


From The Legacy We Shall Make

by thatgreenleaf



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Angst, Bickering, Developing Friendships, Estranged Ben Solo, Eventual Grey Jedi Ben Solo, Eventual Grey Jedi Rey, Flirting, Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), Humor, Hurt/Comfort, It sucks for Ben that his mom is one of them, Jealousy, Knights of Ren - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Minor Poe Dameron/Finn, Multi, Orphan Rey (Star Wars), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Rey Needs A Hug, Romance, Skywalker Family Drama, Slow Build, Snoke (Star Wars) - Freeform, jedi lessons, rey makes friends, the Sith tell lies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:48:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23433433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatgreenleaf/pseuds/thatgreenleaf
Summary: Luke Skywalker had sensed darkness in his nephew. In a moment of compassion, he reached out to Ben Solo one fateful night, prepared to either change his heart or lose him to the darkness forever.--"Alright, sweetheart."Rey glowered at the man. He stared down at her, enjoying the way she fumed and clutched her staff close, seemingly preparing to hit him yet again. "Why did you call me that?" She demanded, bristling at the way his dark eyes drank her in, taking her in over and over again."You won't tell me your name," he reasoned with her softly, as if it were a cause of great heartache for him.
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 26
Kudos: 101





	1. Chapter 1

**34 ABY**

~o~

Plutt had begun reducing the portions he supplied for parts again. It meant more work for all the scavengers, and lesser rewards as the days went by. The only junk boss on Niima Outpost, his decision left most of the scavengers no alternatives but to continue relying on him for sustenance. Their survival depended on trading salvaged parts from the wreckages of imperial and rebel fleets alike left over from the battle of Jakku for dehydrated portions. The desert planet had no natural resources to offer, as nothing flourished in its miles of sandy dunes and scorching heat.

As soon as the scavengers had noticed Plutt dishing out half a portion for a part that could usually be traded for a full portion, word had spread. Most of the scavengers tried stocking up for times such as these, so they would not starve. They would wait until Plutt noticed the lack of parts being sold, and begrudgingly begin raising the portions he offered. In the end, he was still the only junkyard boss in this outpost, leaving them no choice but to trade with him, sooner or later, when the starvation won out, eventually.

It was worse for scavengers who worked alone, like Rey. And she had been unfortunate enough as things were.

Only a handful of portions remained with her, and those she hid with care. They were all she had to survive, and they would only last her two days if she drew them out.

With her current circumstances pressing urgently in mind, Rey set out to scavenge.

Heavily wrapped in strips to protect her skin from the blistering heat, Rey scouted the region in her speeder, and dismissed wreckages that she knew had already been pecked clean by scavengers such as her. Wreckage after wreckage, all familiar and already previously inspected by her, she left behind. The few that held promise, had groups of scavengers that were the less friendly of the whole lot crawling over and through them. The lack of portions had made many desperate, and that made approaching them a risk. They would likely grow violently territorial if Rey showed any interest in the wreckages they occupied.

She would have to come back some other time, and pray they were gone by then.

Riding further than she usually dared, her heart lifted with hope upon finding a wreckage of an imperial freighter. It was half buried in the sand, and hard to notice with the heavy coat of dust covering it.

When she climbed into it, she realized that this, too, had been stripped of almost anything she could sell. The few parts she found hidden would sell for half a portion each at the current exchange rate Plutt had set.

If she wanted to, she could wait for this to pass. Some more days, the panic would abate. The scavengers would return from this state. Plutt would raise the amount of portions he distributed.

Although, she was fairly sure she would starve to death before that happened.

So Rey rode further.

She worried she’d reached another outpost, or maker forbid, pirates, when a large blur began materializing out of the swimming heat. Turning her speeder to make an escape easier, she spied what appeared to be a Corellian light freighter.

To her dismay, the ship looked like a huge pile of junk.

It did not look like it had been specked clean by the other scavengers, though. That would have to be good enough for her current predicament.

Rey leant forward in her seat, rode over a large dune of sand that hid her from view, parked her speeder at a good distance from the ship, and watched. She tried to spot for any crew surrounding it. It had likely crashed and been abandoned. With the sandstorms that frequently deterred life in these regions, if the crew had set out to find posts to trade for their repairs, then they would be lost without anyone to give them directions. They would be long dead if they took it upon themselves to wonder the desert.

And the ship looked like it had been there for a while.

Trusting her judgement and driven by desperation, she left her speeder hidden a safe distance away, and advanced towards the ship by foot. The ship was clearly from off-world, and not the kind that usually accompanied the sort of folk who sought out Plutt. Up close, the ship looked completely intact, though much battered and far older than she had initially assumed. The model was an outdated one, and though it appeared to have undergone heavy modification, the compatibility of such additions with the ship itself left Rey baffled. But it meant more valuable parts for her to salvage.

She reached the ship, and found the ramp already lowered.

Rey clutched her staff close, and reconsidered her options.

This was the first intact wreckage she had encountered in a while. If she left it, other scavengers would eventually find it as they ventured further in search of parts. The freighter would undoubtedly be picked clean of any parts of use, when they did find it. No matter what a pile of garbage the ship was, even ones as old as this would have basic parts worth something. The scavengers would target those parts first, and strip the ship of anything useful. Rey, with no new parts to trade for portions, would likely starve, full of regret at not having taken this rare opportunity presented to her.

Her mind made up, Rey climbed up the ramp, and stepped into the ship. She tugged the wrappings around her head off. It would be fine. She would run at the first sign of the presence of anyone else. Although she doubted the innocents that had been aboard had survived the desert.

As soon as she entered, she heard the faint cries of a child.

Rey sucked in a quick breath.

They were _her_ cries.

From when she’d called for her parents to turn their ship around and come back for her all those years ago.

Rey paused, waiting to see if the cries would abate, thinking that perhaps her dehydration and the heat had caused her mind to begin playing tricks on her.

The cries continued, echoing off of the walls of the ship, coming from within the freighter. Resonating deep within her, they drove all thought from her mind as they pulled her onwards. It was the call of a child trapped and abandoned. A helpless child, desperate for some affection; screaming for the return of the warmth and safety that a family promised. She was lead further into the ship, tugged forward by the part of her that ached at the familiarity of the crazed despair in those cries.

In the dead stillness of the darkness within the ship, the cries were all she could heed to over her soft footsteps. Hands trailing along the cold walls, she turned with the passage, and the cries grew louder. She could clearly make out the words she had screamed that day, over and over again, asking them to not go and _come back_.

Rey walked down the corridor, following the cries with unsteady steps.

As soon as she spotted light flooding her way, the cries abated. It were as if they had had been an illusion all along. A strange hoax she could not explain. But something else had begun replacing the pull.

It was a feeling that called to her, and it felt like a promise, secretly telling her that she was going where she needed to be. No words called her towards the light, but she was called, undoubtedly. She did not hear it, she _felt_ it. She felt it as unmistakably as the thirst called for water, and as her drive for survival called for food in her belly. There was nothing forcing her forward, and she had complete control over her actions, but she _felt_.

And Rey always trusted her feelings.

Stepping forward into the cockpit, Rey found a satchel hidden beneath one of the seats. This was what had called to her. It still called, the source concentrated to one point, driving her to open the satchel and find its contents. Inside, she found a cylindrical structure crafted out of metal. It reached out to her, and she reached out for it. She took it in hand.

And then with her next blink, she was gone from the freighter.

~o~

-She stood in an empty hallway, dark and sinister, sensing something dangerous lurking beneath the walls, and it wanted to consume her alive, she needed to escape it, the walls closed in on where she had been moments ago, a deep voice echoed, trying to find her, and she knew she could not allow it to find her it wanted nothing good for her she could not let it see her, she burst out as the walls collapsed in on themselves and before it could see her-

-It was cold, and she stood in the snow before several figures cloaked in black, they wore armours and masks, each brandishing different weapons that would break her bones to bits, but the one with his scarred arms and chest bared had a face hidden behind a dark grey mask with a strange red symbol, a red beam of light appeared before him, aimed at her, the sound it made as it crackled and buzzed loud to her ears, the heat of it too close to her face, and she was defenceless, but there was someone else behind her, someone who had come back for her, someone she had to protect-

-She was in her room in her AT-AT, but she wasn’t there, not really, instead there was a tall figure dressed in black, his broad back to her, black curls bouncing as he reached up to place fingertips on the wall counting her days in Jakku, the wall too tall, the marks endless, and there was a feeling of sadness and determination, not from her, but _for_ her, and it came from the man, whose presence filled her, he wanted to see her-

-There was a great fire, blazing and destroying structures that had once stood great and imposing, it scorched the trees around and razed the land, it was desolated and lonely when it shouldn’t be, when there had been so much life and laughter here once, only two of them and a droid remained, facing the fire, their backs to her as they lamented the lives lost and the powerlessness they felt because of it, it was the man from her room again, but he wore white this time, and he was surrendering something that looked similar to the device that had brought her here to the other man with greying chestnut hair, the man in the dark auburn robes accepted the offering with a hand that was mechanical-

-She held the hilt in her hands and it called for her to wield it, choosing her, showing her a path down which she would find the belonging she sought, far from here and at home with people who picked her, came back for her over and over, protected her as she would protect them, cherished her, _loved_ her-

She heard a whisper. It called to her. It bid her to _begin_.

“ _These are your first steps.”_

~o~

When Rey came to on the cold floor, she wasn’t alone. Two old men and a Wookie stood before her.

The older of the men had a shock of white hair clipped short, and he wore a shabby jacket over his white shirt. The younger man’s beard and dirty blonde hair were heavily peppered with streaks of grey. The dark robes over his white tunic brushed the floor. Despite being the younger of the two, his face looked ancient, as if weighed down by burdens too great.

Rey stared at them. They stared right back at her.

The ship had not been abandoned. The crew had returned. She’d just been caught trespassing.

“What did you see?” The man in robes asked, eyes searching her panicked ones with intent.

She thrust the device towards them. Instead of taking it, they jumped backwards and away, followed by frightened exclamations. “Whoa! Whoa- whoa-”

“Is that the end that cuts?” The old man in the jacket enquired from behind the Wookie.

The bearded man shuffled backwards. “Yeah, that’ll be that end.”

Rey tossed it far away from her, and was met with scandalized gasps and very vocal protests about “respect” and “family heirloom”.

Rey grappled for her staff, and to her dismay, realized that it was beyond her reach. She would have to go through the Wookie to retrieve it. Her throat seized up in fear. The ship had not been abandoned. It had a crew that had returned, and they had a Wookie with them. She stood no chance with the Wookie there. Her vision swam. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know the ship was occupied! I thought it was one of the junks abandoned here, I swear!”

The robed man burst out laughing. He clutched his stomach with a heavily gloved right hand. “She thought it was junk!” He sputtered. The older man grumbled under his breath.

The Wookie roared angrily. Rey flinched with a startled cry, bracing for an assault.

Wookies were friendly, as long as they were not trifled with. The first Wookies she had met from off-world had been very approachable. But they had warned her of what were to happen should someone cross them. She had witnessed it first-hand, when a pirate had attempted to harass her when the Wookies had been nearby.

And this Wookie and its friends had just caught her in the act of what most certainly looked like stealing from their ship.

“Oh, quit it, Chewie- you’re scaring the poor thing.” The scratchy voice of the older man scolded. He turned to Rey, and his eyes, along with his voice, softened enough to make Rey hope that perhaps, they could not be as merciless as her previous experiences with most strangers have led her to expect. “Look, kid- it’s alright. We’re not going to hurt you.”

Rey remained frozen on the floor. There was no way of knowing if his words could be trusted. The Wookie dropped down and cooed at her, attempting to soothe.

“See, this is entirely your fault. Did you have to roar?” The man with the beard admonished, though he seemed more amused by it, if anything.

The other man seemed to have had enough, and approached Rey. “It’s alright, kid.” He insisted. Pointed at himself, he began introducing himself and the others. “I’m Han Solo.” He pointed at the Wookie next. “This is Chewbacca. And this,” he waved a hand at the man with the beard, “is Luke. What’s your name?”

Rey couldn’t answer.

She stared slack-jawed.

The names clicked into place with the infamous tales she had heard.

Han Solo.

Chewbacca.

Luke.

Luke Skywalker?

_The_ Jedi Luke Skywalker?

And the infamous smuggler Han Solo _and_ the Wookie Chewbacca?

Rey whipped her head around to face Chewbacca. “Are you the Wookie who fought with the Rebels in the battle of Endor? I’ve heard so much about you!” The Wookie let out a pleased grumble. Relief coursed through her at the words of acknowledgement that followed. A smile bloomed on her face when he gently helped her up, and patted her on the head with a giant paw like she was a precious child of his own.

Han Solo smiled crookedly. “We all fought there, kid.”

“Sounds like Chewbacca got the most fame out of it, though,” commented Luke Skywalker with a chuckle. Chewbacca laughed, patting Rey on the head again, clearly having been made very happy at Rey knowing about him first and foremost. The words had been out of her mouth quicker than she could have thought, since she had heard so much about him from the Wookies off-world. His adventures had made him quite famous among them.

“I know you too! Oh! Is this the Millennium Falcon?” Han Solo’s eyebrows rose at Rey’s excitement.

“Yep, this is the ship, alright.”

Rey whirred towards Luke. “Is it true you’re a Jedi? Are the Jedi real?”

“You’re looking at one right now.”

“It’s all real. The Force. The Jedi. Everything.” Han said, appearing extremely glad for Rey’s change in demeanour from fright to sudden excitement.

Rey glanced at the device she’d touched. It sat innocently in Luke’s hands, silent, as if it hadn’t called to Rey and shown her people she had never met and places she had never been to. It had felt so _real_.

Luke had noticed her eyeing it warily. “The lightsaber called to you, didn’t it?” He asked quietly.

Rey took in a shuddering breath. “I’m never touching that thing ever again,” she swore, voice trembling as she recalled the jumble of scenes she had not been able to make sense of. A shiver ran through her on remembering the cold feeling that had chilled her to the bone when the sinister presence of something ill intended had tried to find her as soon as she had touched the lightsaber.

Luke scrutinized her. His expression hardened, as he focused on reading her face. Rey shifted on her feet. She could not tell what he searched for.

“You have the Force.” Luke muttered, his eyes narrowing as he continued studying her with a single-minded focus.

Her eyebrows crinkled. Her? The Force?

Rey slowly shook her head. Luke nodded slowly in response. “You do. I can sense it.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about the Force.” She confessed, feeling ill-equipped with her lack of knowledge. She certainly did not feel any different. Wasn’t the Force supposed to grant one great abilities? Rey hardly had any beyond her gift for mechanics, which she considered to be the result of lessons hard learned. With a decisive nod at her, Luke turned away. She thought she caught him say, “probably for the best,” under his breath.

Han shrugged at Luke’s strange behaviour. “What brings you to Jakku?” Rey asked, tilting her head. That had a disheartening effect on them. Chewbacca grumbled, and the twinkle in Han’s quick eyes was no longer there.

Rey realized why, when with great weariness, Luke told her, “We’re looking for my nephew. Han’s son.” At that, Han’s eyes lifted to meet Rey’s. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen anyone new around these parts, would you? Really tall boy? Black hair? Pale?”

Rey shook her head apologetically. Han’s face fell.

This boy, Han Solo’s son, had his family out here searching for him.

Just like she hoped her family would.

He was lucky.

“People don’t usually come here on purpose. Jakku is nowhere.”

“She’s right. Maybe he left?” Luke suggested, and Han ran a hand through his hair. “What if he’s in trouble?”

“Han, he would’ve told us, if he were. This is _Ben_ we’re talking about. If any space pirates capture him, it’s _them_ I’d be worried about.” Han was not convinced by the confidence Luke displayed.

“He _told_ Maz he’d _be_ here.”

“Maybe he’s not here _yet_. Maybe he changed his mind.” Luke hesitated before reluctantly saying, “Or maybe he lied. Ben doesn’t want to be found, you know that.”

Rey shifted uneasily on her feet. Though they clearly had no reservations speaking about it in front of her, the matter they discussed did not seem to be one she should be privy to. As much as she hoped they found the boy, there wasn’t anything _she_ could do about it.

“You could try asking Unkar Plutt. He’s the junkyard boss in this area. Be careful though, he might try to swindle you in exchange for the information.”

‘Does he fix ships?’ Chewbacca wanted to know.

“He does have scavengers that can fix ships, but he’s far more likely to steal parts in the process.” Rey bit her lower lip. “I can try helping you, if you need your ship fixed. It’s the least I can do, since I almost took it apart.” She added the last part sheepishly.

Han and Luke exchanged a look. Though it was subtle, she caught the nod Luke gave Han before wandering off. Han decided to take her up on her offer. “That’d be great, actually. There’s something wrong with our hyperdrive.” He paused and his eyes lit up, a playful smile stretched his lips, revealing teeth. She could easily imagine how charming he must’ve been in his youth. Very charming, if she recalled some of the stories she had heard. “Still haven’t told us your name, kid.” He reminded her.

She’s completely forgotten about it in her excitement. “Oh! I’m Rey.”

“Nice meeting you, Rey!” Luke called from out of sight.

Han and Chewbacca led her down a path towards a hatch on the floor that opened. She climbed down nimbly, curling her body down to perch over a coolant pipe that ran across. For a moment, she marvelled at the upgrades that seemed to have been performed fairly recently. Chewbacca handed her tools from their toolbox for opening up the panel before her, and held a light for her to be able to see. Her fingers were twisting wires out of the way as she identified the cause of the failure, when Han piped up.

“So, what are you doing in Jakku, kid?”

Rey hesitated. Her profession wasn’t exactly one to be held in high esteem. However, they had already caught her attempting to take parts from their ship. She had confessed to it, as well. There seemed to be no point in evading. “I’m a scavenger.” Han did not comment further on it, to her relief.

Peering down to catch sight of what she did, Han grunted appreciatively at her work. “You seem to know what you’re doing.” Chewbacca grumbled along with how impressed he was. “Why don’t you reach out, look for work somewhere else? It can’t be easy living here. With your skills, you’ll do pretty good out there.”

Rey hesitated again before answering. Normally, no one ever wanted to know so much. “I can’t. I’m waiting for my parents.” She was unprepared for their reaction to her, and had not known what to expect.

“Your parents?” Han barked. “Why’d they leave you in this junkyard?” His outrage was shared by Chewbacca.

Rey felt her gut twist. It didn’t help that her stomach growled from hunger. She would have to trade the parts she had gathered today quickly after fixing the Falcon.

“I don’t know.” She checked to see Han looking at her with his face pinched. “They’ll be back.” She said brightly, putting all her belief into the words she spoke, and went back to her work.

Han muttered something under his breath, and left.

For a moment, she worked with just Chewbacca observing and complimenting the corrections she was making. She smiled and thanked him every time he did, pride swelling within her at the acknowledgement of her skills. It had been a while since she has had to actually fix a real ship with the purpose of getting it up and running.

She felt Luke approach even before he made any sound. She didn’t know how she knew, but his presence stood out to her. He exuded an invisible wave of strength that seemed to stir the very air surrounding him, making the hair on her arms tingle.

He went straight to the point, once it was just the two of them. “What did you see when you touched the lightsaber?”

Rey worried her lip between her teeth. There had been a lot that she had not able to comprehend. “I saw people I’ve never met before. Places I’d never been to.” She answered honestly, and slowed to think. If anyone could help her make sense of what she had seen, it would be Luke Skywalker. But she still did not know how to explain what she had seen. She wasn’t even sure some of the places she saw existed, along with the people in it. She was especially unsure of how to explain that she might have seen the very man she was speaking to right now, with another man that she had never met before in her life. There was no mistaking that silhouette. He had not changed much. “I think I saw you as well. There was a great fire. You were with another man. Did I see visions of the past and the future?”

Luke hummed in thought over what she said, sounding unconcerned about her visions of him. “Not necessarily. The Force doesn’t exactly tell you what you need to know, when you need to know, _all_ the time. Sometimes it just....shows you possibilities. Some of the things you see are purely symbolic, and never turn out exactly the way the visions go.”

Rey dipped her head. “I saw someone searching for me.” She revealed uncertainly.

“Your parents?” Luke asked, and Rey felt her heart squeeze painfully.

She shook her head reluctantly. “It felt dark. I had a bad feeling.”

“Did you let him see you? Has he located you?”

The sudden urgency with which Luke demanded answers from her, and the fact that he seemed to know what- or who had chased her were startling. “I- No, I ran as fast as I could. I don’t think it- _he_ saw me. I don’t understand how, but I knew I couldn’t let him see me.” Rey craned her face up to find Luke deep in thought, his face grim and knuckles clenched tightly around the edge of the hatch.

Fear settled into her with a chill. The threat of the thing from her vision, as the walls had tried to close in on her, rose to the forefront of her mind. It had felt so tangible, as if she really _had_ been running from great peril. How could such a thing be possible if they were mere visions?

“Was it real? What does it want with me?”

“You’re fine as long as he hasn’t found you.”

“Who was it?” Rey demanded.

Luke dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “It’s better the less you know. It won’t turn up well for you if he sees you as a threat.”

“But he chased me! I felt his intent, it was real–it was _cold_.” She choked out, eyes widened. Luke considered her with his jaw set.

“Listen to me, Rey.” He told her, his tone severe. “The thing chasing you will only come for you if it sees you as an opponent or an apprentice. If you display any potential in channelling the Force, then he will come for you. That is precisely what happened years ago in the visions you saw of me. And I was not there to stop it. The only way you’ll be safe once he finds out who you are is if you leave this planet and run.” Luke leant forward, eyes blazing in his fervour. “Do not, under any circumstances, use the Force.”

Rey felt her eyes prickle. Luke appeared immensely relieved when she nodded her understanding.

Luke took out a box as large as the toolbox the Falcon had. He indicated it with a pat. “Take a break and eat. This is for you.”

Rey climbed out to join him as he poured water out of a flask for her. Her eyes widened as she took in the rations and variety of dried food stuff that were stored there. She gulped. “Which one is mine?”

Luke pushed the box towards her. “All of it.”

Rey’s bewildered look caused Luke to give her a small smile. “What?! But these are- most of these are monthly rations -you can’t give all of it to me!” Rey shook her head, closing the box and pushing it back towards Luke. Luke picked the box up and shoved it into her hands, giving her a stern look.

“We can and we just did. Eat what you can and take the rest. It’s all yours. Han is fetching the credits for your work.”

An entire month’s worth of rations supplies and now credits as well? Rey sat in a daze. “But you’ve already given me all this! You can’t give me credits as _well_!”

“We can and we will.” Luke spoke over her feeble protests. “And you’re taking all of it. Now eat already, you look like you’re going to faint any minute.”

Rey sighed in defeat. She was beyond grateful for their kindness, but she really could not take the credits. “Thank you. But I actually can’t take the credits. Plutt won’t allow it. I might get beaten for it.”

Luke frowned as he mulled it over. “We’ll figure something else out, then.”

~o~

In the end, they settled for paying her in a way that will be of immediate use to her. Rey was given a hefty load of spare parts from the Falcon. If she sectioned these out and traded them occasionally, the rations she would obtain from them alone would set her up for a good couple of months. These will ensure that she had a backup in case things turned too hard, such as it had now. It was a bit much, and went far beyond payment for her work. Their generosity was hard for her to grasp. No matter how profusely she thanked them, she felt it could never measure up to how they had rewarded her.

Chewbacca was the most enthusiastic about their farewell. He engulfed her in a hug and stroked her hair and told her he would miss her, although they had only spent a few hours together, most of which they had spent talking about her work and then planets off-world. Luke reminded her to be careful, and then they gave her a gift- another thing she had no idea how to ever thank them enough for it. It was a beacon, which she was to turn on, in case she ever wanted to leave Jakku needed somewhere safe to go to.

Han escorted her down the ramp. Between the parts and rations, Rey had to bring her speeder over to pack everything onto it. She could not have carried it all back to the speeder alone.

“I hope you find your son. I’m sure he’s glad you’re looking for him.” Rey said. She could not understand the way Han regarded her. His eyes shone with emotion Rey did not understand, did not understand why it was aimed at her. He reached out to pat her on the head. “You take care, kid.” His voice sounded thick, like he had trouble letting the words out. Rey turned with a bounce in her stride, and approached her speeder.

“Wait!”

Rey turned back to Han. He had a small blaster in his hand, which he gave to her. “Take this with you.”

Rey began protesting. They had given her so much already, and now _this_?

“Take it.” Han insisted. His eyes grew dark. “And if someone gives you trouble, especially any shady guy, then you blast a hole in him where it hurts. You understand?”

Rey regarded the worry with which he looked at her. She nodded begrudgingly. Han relaxed instantaneously. “Don’t forget to take the safety off when you use it.”

With a final farewell to Han, Rey left.

She went home to her AT-AT, and unloaded all of the new supplies she had received. Hiding them well, she sat down and watched night settle in. She would have to go back and trade the parts she had scavenged from the imperial freighter tomorrow. Plutt would become suspicious if she showed any indication of not needing his portions. The last thing she wanted was for his goons to hunt her down and confiscate her new supplies.

Rey scratched a new mark on her wall.

Despite how the day had started out, she could hardly complain. It had turned out rather well, she thought.

~o~

FN-2187 was the ideal stormtrooper.

He had all the markings of a brave and capable soldier. His marksmanship was of expert quality, and his exceptional combat and analytical skills left little fault for his superiors to find. Graduating at the top of his class, there were no doubts regarding his promising future as a stormtrooper. The young soldier had shown great potential, and was expected to perform just as exceptionally on the field as he had in class.

Except that would not be possible, for there was only one thing on FN-2187’s mind as he awaited in full armour, ready with his unit as they were being prepared for deployment on the planet of Jakku.

For right before they had been instructed to prepare for deployment, FN-2187 had done something that would never be forgiven by the First Order once they found out.

FN-2187 had, against all his training and conditioning, taken First Order plans, specifically the explicit orders that Supreme Leader Snoke had suddenly decreed for Jakku, and communicated them to the Resistance. He had done it because- as simple as the reason behind an act so bold with consequences beyond his control sounded- it felt like the right thing to do. So when he had overheard that the Supreme Leader wanted every single humanoid female from the desert planet of Jakku apprehended and brought before him for who knew what despicable acts the trooper could only imagine, FN-2187 knew he had to do something.

It was only a matter of time before they found out which trooper had turned off the cameras and sent a message to the frequency commonly used by the enemy of the First Order. While his number had not been noticed by the unassuming officers he had knocked unconscious, he was sure that somehow, the First Order would find out. How soon that was going to happen, he could not predict, for his unit had gotten ready and boarded the ship, and still there were no alarms or urgent messages calling for his head.

But he hoped it would happen after they landed on Jakku. For once they finally landed, FN-2187 would do the one thing that would save him from the First Order after what he had done.

He would run.

~o~


	2. Chapter 2

~o~

Once morning broke, Leader of the black squadron, Poe Dameron, tried to communicate with the Millennium Falcon from his X-wing. Han opened up the channel.

“Sir, you are not going to believe this,” Dameron said, sounding extremely riled up and excited.

“Yeah? Well, try me.”

“We just got a message from the First Order.”

Luke and Han exchanged a look. “And?” Han asked with apprehension.

“And the message just leaked a First Order plan that is going into effect, like, right now.”

“How did the plan get leaked?”

“That’s the thing. It was a stormtrooper! Can you believe this?!”

Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay, that’s a first,” he admitted.

“Yeah! Dude’s name is FN-2187? I have no idea where he is, but I don’t imagine the First Order is going to be pleased with him when they find out.”

Han waved a hand absentmindedly. “Uh-huh. So what plan did he leak?”

“Oh, they’ve just issued an assault on Jakku with orders to round up all humanoid females and bring them to their supreme leader.”

Luke swore loudly, and Han leapt forward to start the engines on their ship. “You couldn’t have led with that?! Shit!”

“Yeah, we’re already en route, but I think this is going to get pretty nasty.”

“Alright Dameron, we’ll see you in Jakku.”

“Wait- you’re not leaving?”

“Not yet. There’s a girl we gotta find.” With that, Han shut off the transmission and began starting the ship.

“Snoke is coming for her, as I feared.” Luke looked at him gravely. “We need to get to her before he does.”

Chewbacca came stumbling into the cockpit, complaining loudly about why the ship had suddenly taken off without any warning.

“Long story short: First Order is coming, Rey is in danger,” Luke informed him. Chewbacca roared at Han and threw himself into his co-pilot seat.

“I’d go faster if you strapped in and helped,” Han yelled right back. He faced forward and took in the miles and miles of just sand all around them as they sped through. “How are we even going to find her?”

“Keep going straight,” Luke said, his eyes closed as he did something with the Force, Han assumed.

Soon, Leia opened up transmission with their ship. “Han, Jakku is about to turn into a warzone. The First Order is attacking.”

“Yeah, Dameron told us.”

“And tell Ben! I already left him a message.”

Han nodded brusquely, and Chewbacca opened up the channel for messages. “Hey, kid- This is your dad. Don’t come to Jakku. There’s a huge fight going on.” Han ended the transmission and sent it to the frequency Ben used.

Leia looked unimpressed. “What?!” Han squawked defensively.

“I thought it was quite-” Luke transformed his laughter into coughing, “-quite heartfelt.”

“Very succinct,” Leia deadpanned.

“I’m busy right now!”

“Go to the right a little bit- alright, you know what,” Luke leaped up and grabbed the controls from Han amidst his complaining, and hell, Leia was yelling something, and Chewbacca was yelling too, they were all damn yelling now, and Luke yelled, “I can sense where civilization is, so let _me_ pilot it and we’ll stand a much higher chance of finding her-”

Luke steered them towards a gathering of people. Said people were in heavy white armour, marching in formation with their blasters, the First Order insignia plain on the ships they disembarked from.

Leia took one look at their collective faces, sighed, and signed off with, “Good luck getting out of whatever you’ve gotten yourselves into.”

“We’ll go around them, nice and easy......” Han said calmly, as Luke turned the ship as stealthily as he could manage.

“.....They haven’t seen us yet, and that’s a good sign......” The soldiers noticed the Millennium Falcon, and opened heavy fire.

~o~

Rey waited for several hours after the sun rose before going to Plutt’s Concession Stand. She wanted it to seem as if she had been actually scavenging for parts before she did. Preparing for her next search, she roamed around scouring in her speeder, and spotted the broken half of an Imperial gunboat. She had it selected in her mind, and rode to exchange the parts she had found yesterday for portions.

Once there, she sat down to scrub the part clean. There was some shouting behind her, but she paid it no mind. It was all too common for fights to break out here. She continued scrubbing, eyebrows coming together as she tried to clean a particularly stubborn pile of sand out of a groove.

A man grabbed her arm, and spun her around. He did not look like any thugs from around here, and neither did he look like a scavenger. The man looked far too healthy and polished for it, despite the sand on his completely black getup. His dark skin shone under the sun, black hair cropped short, full lips parted as he took in huge gulps of breath as if he had been running or fighting, and dark eyes strained tightly around the corners in urgency on his good-looking face.

He took in a huge breath, and then in a rush, hysterically told her, “You need to get off of this planet, the First Order is here and they’re under orders to capture every single girl on Jakku and bring them before the Supreme Leader, so you need to leave _now_.”

Rey bared her teeth, and shrugged his hand off. “Let go- what? You’re insane!”

He took her hand this time, his eyes growing frantic when he realized she did not believe him. “No, no- look, you need to go now! They’ll be here any minute, they-” he looked behind her and his mouth twisted into a snarl, eyes panicking. Rey followed his gaze and froze.

Half a dozen stormtroopers were running their way, and they had their guns aimed at the two of them. People around in the Outpost had noticed and were running out of the troopers’ way. Grabbing her staff, Rey rose up, and the man pulled her by the hand he still held, taking off into a run together.

Rey and the man both dodged and shrieked when the troopers opened fire. They ducked behind stalls and ran as fast as they could. One trooper aimed for a shot that missed Rey by too little, and it forced the man to pull her into safety behind a stall. “Are you okay?!” He asked, frantically, and Rey took a good look at him. His eyes were kind. The held genuine concerned for her.

Rey nodded belatedly. “Yeah.”

They remained hidden. The man muttered under his breath as he searched for something. “Are there any blasters around here?”

She scrambled to bring out the blaster Han had gifted her, clicked the safety off, and gave it to him. He poked his head out from the side to shoot, staying low on the ground. He got three of the troopers despite the obscurity of their view, but it had given away their general location, and now the other three were coming their way.

“Shit- there’s probably more coming! Get to safety!” The man yelled.

“We need to get to my speeder,” with that, Rey pointed at the speeder that was parked past several more stalls.

The man spied the three troopers with concentration, and then, faster than Rey would have imagined him capable of, he exposed himself by ducking out of their hiding spot and got all three troopers with a single shot for each, all made without a second wasted in between. “Let’s go!”

They ran to her speeder, and Rey cursed when she saw more troopers-this time on shiny speeders of their own barrelling towards the Outpost. She leapt onto her seat, and as soon as the man had climbed on behind her and secured his arms around her waist, they were off.

The troopers opened fire. Although Rey made it difficult for the two of them to be targets, knowing the terrain as she did, their mortality and the danger of the situation sped her already fast beating heart up. They had to lose the soldiers and find a way out of this situation, or they were actually going to die.

Rey sped up. The man let go of her, and in a sheer act of either bravery or foolery, sprang forward to brace on her speeder by placing a foot in the groove between her and her handles, and another in the hook she used to hold her things against the bulky frame. His torso leaned heavily on the front of her rusty red speeder.

“What are you doing?! Have you gone mad?!” She shrieked. The man fired at the soldiers following her, hitting a lot of them, if the sounds of engines revving ceasing behind them were any indication.

“I’m sorry!!” He yelled back at her, sounding panic-stricken and looking scared out of his wits as he held onto her speeder for dear life.

“Why are there so many of them following _us_ only?!”

“Aside from you meeting the target criteria?? It’s probably because I’m a stormtrooper and I just defected!!” The man began hyperventilating as the words left his mouth.

It was Rey’s turn to be consumed by hysteria. “ _What_?!” She screamed at him. The wind blew sand into their faces when Rey momentarily lost control.

“FN-2187 at your service!! We need to get off of this planet!!”

Rey screamed a stream of profanities at him for the revelation, which explained what made them both such prominent targets for the First Order, and ended her shouting with, “What else are they going to send?!”

“Probably airstrike next!!”

“Shit-” Beams of blaster bolts fell from the sky and missed them by inches as they sped away. Piles of sand flung up in the air where the bolts hit.

The former trooper’s eyes widened as he saw the silhouette cast over them, and he yelled, “Airstrike!!”

Rey spun her speeder around sharply and went back the way they had just escaped from.

“Are you crazy?! Why are we going _back_?!” He shrieked.

“To get a ship!!”

More ships flew over them, but they looked different from the ones that had fired at them. And these new ships, X-wings, were firing at the ships that had fired at Rey and her passenger. The ships were firing at each other.

“There’s more??” Rey bellowed.

“That’s a Resistance squadron!!”

This meant they were right in the middle of a very real and very violent battle between the First Order and the Resistance. “KRIFF!!”

Rey went as fast as she could, taking the chance presented by the Resistance engaging the First Order fighters. She steered through around fallen bodies of the troopers and through some burning fighters, all First Order, and through the handful of troopers that opened fire when they barrelled towards Unkar’s quadjumper while the former trooper picked the troopers off one by one. They abandoned her speeder and the boarded the quadjumper. The hatch pulled up and sealed behind them as they took seat, and her hands roamed over the controls.

Right. She had never flown a real ship before. Hopefully, the simulations had given her plenty of practice.

“Can you even fly this thing?” The trooper asked with trepidation as Rey fumbled, but finally turned the engines on. The four thrusters came to life, and Rey shrugged as they took of unsteadily.

“I’m doing it, aren’t I?!”

Several fighters had noticed, and were turning to give chase.

“Gunners? Has this thing got gunners?” The man demanded, turning around in his seat search around.

Rey ground her teeth together. “There aren’t any!”

“Why did we pick this one then?!” He snapped, panic gripping at him again.

“It was the only one around!!”

The fighters chasing them had begun bombarding them with fire. She gripped the controls tightly. “We need to go somewhere safe.”

“We need to lose the fighters first. They’re firing, but we don’t have anything to fire back at them with.”

The man turned to look at her. “Where do we go?” For the first since they had met, he appeared uncertain. He swallowed hard, and Rey realized, that he really had no idea where to go.

It filled her with dread, for Rey did now know either. She took out the beacon the crew from the Falcon had gifted her, and turned it on. It beeped with coordinates, and that allowed her to breathe easier. They had some hope, at least.

Rey glanced at him. “These are coordinates to a safe place. It was given to me by Rebels who fought the Empire. We’ll go there.” She caught his eyes, the doubt in them, and shared it with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Okay. We’ll get out of this. We can do this.” He nodded, as if trying to force them both to believe, “we can do this.”

“We can do this,” Rey said with resolve, and that brought the spark back in his eyes.

Rey put in the coordinates, and felt the blood drain from her body when the ship showed that she was already at the destination in the beacon.

“What’s wrong?”

Rey stared at the blinking light. She had been expecting coordinates to another planet. But the ones they had gotten pointed to Jakku.

They were trying to _leave_ Jakku.

“Hey, is that ship trying to hail us?”

Rey sat up with a jolt, followed her partner’s line of vision down below them, and felt like crying from relief. The Millennium Falcon followed them close below. They received a transmission from it.

“Kid, is that you in that quadjumper? Your beacon’s on,” Han’s voice floated over. Rey let out a laugh that sounded crazed even to her own ears.

“It is! I- I have someone with me, he was a stormtrooper, but he defected! He helped me escape, and the First Order is after us both, now!”

“Oh, that FN-something trooper? The one who leaked the First Order plans?” Han pause, and then roared, “Son- that was a _hell_ of a thing you did!”

“Thank you, sir!” The former trooper replied promptly, as if on reflex.

“Alright, look, we’re opening up the top hatch of the Falcon, alright? You’re gonna have to jump.”

“What-” “That’s crazy-”

“It’ll be fine! Trust us. I’m radioing over some backup, and then we’re out of here.”

Rey looked at the man beside her. They shared a breath and he nodded with resolve. They were ready. They could do this. It wasn’t the craziest thing they had done today. Rey halted the ship, and the Falcon hovered in place right beneath. She opened the hatch to their ship.

Their thrusters rumbled deafeningly. The heated air from it warmed their faces when reached the opening that led to air.

It looked like a long jump, from here.

“You go first! I’ll let you down,” her companion took her hand, and she gave his hand a hearty squeeze in thank you. He sounded calm, but she did not feel as such. He lowered her down, and on her nod, let go.

Rey landed little way off of the hatch atop the Falcon. It bruised her, she was sure, and the impact rattled her to the bone. She grabbed on for dear life, and looked up to see him preparing to make the jump. He bounced on spot, as if hyping himself up for the act. It was a long jump, and Rey understood his faltering.

Just as she saw him finally get ready to jump, a rain of bolts hit the quadjumper. It caused their transport to tilt.

Rey threw herself and slid down to the side of the Falcon following the jumper, and braced there.

She reached a hand out helplessly for him as he jumped out of the burning ship-

-and missed the Falcon.

~o~

FN-2187 was falling. He had jumped, and missed the Falcon, for their ship had started dropping from the air side-first at the last moment, and it had thrown his body off-course.

It was a very long fall.

In the hindsight, he had gotten further than he had initially anticipated. He had honestly feared the First Order would get to Jakku and take all the women before the Resistance arrived. That hadn’t happened, to his great relief. And he had helped the girl that he had met, and he had been saved in turn by her help. They had gotten rather far together, considering how badly the odds had been stacked against them. Whether through sheer luck or some skill, he still counted it as a win for what he believed in.

With her stricken face in mind, face contorted in anguish as her mouth opened in a scream he couldn’t hear over the wind howling at his ears, her outstretched hand growing further and further away from him, he plummeted towards the ground below.

At least he had saved people. His final act hadn’t been one taken as a stormtroopers. With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes, and braced himself for what awaited.

~o~

The man, formerly, FN-2187, had not needed to help her. He had defected from the First Order, deterring the plans that would have involved her on a ship bound for their sinister leader. If he had not sent for the Resistance, they would not have stood a chance of fighting their way out of the onslaught they had been subjected to. They had been chased together, and they had managed to evade capture together. It was a mad thing, that they had been able to run away from an assault as daunting as the one led by the First Order. She counted her stars lucky, that they had met.

He had let her down on the Falcon first.

She had landed safely.

He hadn’t.

He was falling. The fighter would get him. He would be captured by the First Order.

They said were going to go somewhere safe together. They hadn’t done that yet.

Rey had landed safely on the Falcon.

The man was falling.

She couldn’t think anymore.

She could only feel.

~o~

FN-2187 had stopped falling.

He squeezed his eyes open, and saw the Falcon in the air right above him, not getting further away.

He hadn’t landed on anything, but he was certain he _had_ stopped falling.

He was floating in mid-air.

~o~


	3. Chapter 3

~o~

Han Solo had radioed them over for backup. When Poe got there with the rest of his squadron not far behind, there were TIE fighters heading for the Falcon and the ship containing the two passengers the Falcon was to receive.

The Resistance squadron shot down of most of the enemy fighters in time, but not before the quadjumper had gotten caught in their fire.

They shot the fighters down before they could get the girl or the brave man who had betrayed the First Order. The shots the last fighter had fired before Poe had disengaged it, caused the thrusters of the quadjumper on one side to burst, and now it was falling side first. The girl that had been on the ship, had landed safely on the Falcon, but the man with her had jumped and missed his landing.

Poe dove down, but there was no way he was going to catch the man mid-air. The sand could be expected to break his fall, but they were far too high in the sky. He had never seen someone fall so far and survive before.

The man stopped falling mid air, as if some invisible force had jerked him still, and held him as he hovered.

Poe felt his jaw drop. “Sir, are you seeing this?!” He yelled into his comm link as he swooped in under the man, and opened his cockpit. BB-8 beeped insistently. He threw his arms around the man’s chest and he tried to pull him into safety, but man wouldn’t budge.

“Wha-what’s happening,” the man panicked, still stationary in the air as Poe tugged and failed, and only looked like he was stupidly flexing his biceps over the well-define pecs on this stranger.

“I-I don’t know! I trying to get you into my fighter, but,” Poe jerked at the man again, but was motionless, as if the air itself was refusing to let go of him, “it’s not working!”

Poe tugged again with a groan, and man finally moved, falling on him. Well, at least he was in the cockpit. It was going to be a tight fit.

“You got a name, buddy? Other than FN-2187” Poe managed to squeeze out, trying to arrange the man in a position that didn’t involve any elbows digging into his thighs, or any thighs pinning his arms.

“Uh...” The man blinked, his handsome face floundering as he scrambled to cooperate. “It’s the only name they gave me.”

Poe nodded with a groan. This was as comfortable as they were going to get, with most of the man on his lap. “Yeah, well, I ain’t calling you that. Finn. I’m gonna call you Finn, is that alright?”

Finn’s face lit up. “Yeah... _yeah_ \- Finn- I like that!”

~o~

The man had stopped falling. Rey watched, blood thumping at her ears, as he hovered in the air, bewildered. An X-wing came below him, and the pilot tried to secure him, but failed. Rey was frozen in her spot, the feeling that had swelled in her still there, cascading through her and coming out from her fingertips.

“You can let go now, Rey.” Luke’s voice jerked her out of her reverie, sounding strangely close to her ears, and she gasped as the man fell again, and was soon in the cockpit of the X-wing.

Strands of her hair had escaped and flapped wildly in the wind. She remained frozen, watching till he was safely inside, and the X-wing had flown away with him. Then she felt her body leave the Falcon, and for a moment, dreaded falling, but was moved towards the hatch from which Luke had climbed out of, and had an arm outstretched towards her. She dropped on the Falcon again on nearing the hatched, and Luke prompted her to climb down before he did.

“You look like hell.” He commented as he pulled the hatch shut.

Rey nodded weakly. Her throat was hoarse. “What was that?”

Luke led her down a curved corridor. “The Force. You used it to save your friend. And then I used it to pull you in,” with that, he sighed, as if he knew what Rey was going to say something that he would not approve of. And he was right.

“Teach me more. Please.”

Luke rounded on her, seeming most unimpressed by her request. “Later.” He conceded, and he rolled his eyes when Rey beamed.

Chewbacca took a look at her when she entered the cockpit, and roared in shock. Rey imagined she must actually look like hell, for even Han had gone, “holy shit kid,” upon setting his eyes on her. Rey grimaced, and silently followed when Chewbacca showed her the way to the fresher.

When she returned, they had jumped through hyperspace. “Where are we going?”

“The hidden Resistance base in D’Qar.”

Rey felt her head swim. She had gotten involved in something far bigger than herself, and it only made her recall what the lightsaber had shown her.

She had left Jakku. She didn’t know if she would ever be able to return. She thought of her parents whose faces she could not recall.

~o~

D’Qar was very _green_.

Part of the Illenium system, the planet was circled by a ring of asteroids. They broke through the atmosphere, and flew over mountaintops covered in velvety greenery. Lush forests expanded in all directs around the settlement of the Resistance base. Even the air was different, when they landed. It felt cleaner, as if every breath on Jakku had been a coat of dust for her lungs in comparison.

Han, Luke, and Chewbacca were received by General Leia Organa, the legendary princess of Alderaan, one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance that had defeated the Empire, and now the charismatic leader of the Resistance. She was a short woman with a gentle face, her greying hair pulled up in a large complicated bun held in place by a braid. Despite being the shortest in the group, she held everyone’s attention with great ease and profound respect, and the people who interrupted them to speak with her automatically assumed a subtle reverence for the woman.

There was a confident authority in the way she simply observed Rey from afar, and Rey could only nod back tentatively, when the woman lifted her chin firmly with a tender smile in greeting. Han kept throwing uneasy glances at Rey, as they filled the General in. They left together, and Rey had not missed the contemplative look the General had given her, once someone had come to escort Rey to her room.

Which was another thing. Apparently she was getting her own _room_. A nice clean little room all to herself in the Resistance quarters. According to her escort, she was getting her own nice bed with a mattress. And she could decorate it however she liked, though she was warned that they may have to evacuate base if the First Order ever found it. There were also communal refreshers where you had to wait in line sometimes, but there was actual water in them for showers. And the food- she would be getting food from the cafeteria, where everyone sat together and ate as much as they liked, as ridiculous as the concept sounded.

The girl named Rose, who had been sent to accompany her, with her friendly smile, grew confused upon seeing the trance-like look on Rey’s face.

“Are you okay?”

Rey nodded profusely, feeling out of place with the sudden smile that had her shoulders lifting shyly.

“It’s different from Jakku.” She said as a way of explaining.

Rose’s smile fell. She turned serious, and grabbed Rey by the shoulder, and then her smile was back again, less excited on meeting Rey this time and more focused on projecting her optimism.

“It’s fine. You can ask me about anything. I’m bunked near you,” she assured Rey, and Rey tried to hide how out of sorts she felt in this place with people dressed in pristine colours rushing past them and the shiny X-wings landing in their vicinity. This would take a while to get used to, and the kindness she received from Rose was encouraging. But she didn’t want Rose thinking she had an obligation towards Rey.

“Let’s go clean up and then I’ll show you around.”

Rey faltered. “I’m-I’m actually waiting for someone. I was picked up along with a man from Jakku. We got separated. He’s.....” With that, Rey realized that he did not know anything about the man, other than his stormtrooper serial number. Evening had set in D’Qar, and the field lights illuminated the airfield. Many of the X-wings had finished their rotation in Jakku and returned, but Rey had yet to spot her companion.

“Hey!” A familiar voice yelled from behind Rose. Rey burst into a run when she saw who it was.

Rey’s companion from Jakku was- well, there was no other way to put it- curled up like a ball on the lap of an either smiling or grimacing X-Wing pilot. He had quite a bit of difficulty climbing out, and for several long seconds, it was just him flailing with his limbs and forehead in view while the pilot made his pain known to the entire field.

Once they were both out of the seat, he ran to be reunited with Rey and engulfed her in a hug. He grumbled at her laughing form. Rey grabbed him by the arms when the parted. Her smile was so wide, her cheeks had begun to hurt.

“That. Was. _Insane_!”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I _know_ , right?!”

“I’ve never done anything like it-”

“-It was crazy, you won’t believe-”

“-I can’t believe you got like dozens of them like that-”

“-And did you see how I was floating I have no idea what the hell-”

“-That was me it was the Force-”

The man reeled back. “-What. What?”

Rey bounced on her spot, grinning wide.

“Oh, that’s crazy!” He shrieked in wonder. “Oh, uh.....I don’t know your name.” It felt silly, when he said it out loud, but they had actually not exchanged names in the middle of the crisis they had been in.

“Oh! I’m Rey.”

The man nodded, as if finding her name a nice one.

“Call me Finn.”

“Alright, Finn. Rey. I’m Poe Dameron,” The X-wing pilot that had arrived with Finn offered Rey a hand, having been near them as they caught up on the craziness that they had experienced together, and his dashing smile blinded her for a moment as she smiled back.

Rose had caught up, and Rey felt slightly guilty at having left her like that, though the shorter girl did not seem to mind. She looked at Finn and gave him her friendly smile, curiosity plain on her face.

“Rose, this is Finn. Finn, this is Rose,” Poe introduced, and then said with a flourish, began herding them all into the grey base lit brightly with white lights, “alright, let’s go get you two to your rooms, and then a change of clothes, and then dinner, and then sleep, and then debriefing the General first thing in the morning,” he listed off, and then stopped Finn with a gentle hand on his chest, “unless there are any other immediate threats from the First Order that need to be taken care of?”

“Oh, no, everything else is planned to start months from now,” Finn said, and Poe stared. Rey had also halted to look at him. Rose’s immense concerned was apparent. It sounded like the First Order had plenty planned within that ‘everything’.

“Tomorrow. We’ll hear all about that tomorrow,” Poe decided, and Rey silently agreed.

They reached the girls’ quarters first. “No boys allowed,” was all Poe said with a smirk and a mischievous glint in his eyes, as he led Finn away. Rose rolled her eyes and led Rey inwards. They passed by rows of doors on either side, the open ones showing rooms with one window opposite the door, and two beds on either side of the windows. Some of the rooms had tables and chairs, and it was apparently the choice of the residents, as Rose explained. A few rooms even had one bed only, though those were smaller.

“Most are taken, sorry about that. There are two rooms left, and they’re both furthest from the freshers.” Rose said apologetically. They stopped at the second last room to their left at the end of the corridor grey, and Rose opened it, as well as the last room.

Rey peeked in, and without hesitation, selected the last room.

“It has two windows.” She reasoned, when Rose suggested she take the other one because it was closer to the freshers and the other. Her mouth opened in a silent ‘oh,’ and she beamed at Rey, telling her that meant more view of the forest.

With that, Rose left Rey to go get her a change of clothes, leaving her alone to her new room, for a moment. She entered her room and closed the door behind her.

Rey leaned her staff against the bed frame. Her room had a bed to the left, a window opposite the door, and another opposite the bed. It was big, she could easily lie fit in a table under the window opposite the door, and still have space for stretching.

She hadn’t brought anything with her, unfortunately, except and her staff, the blaster Han had given her, and the tools in the bag strapped to her hip. There wasn’t a lot she could have brought with her even if she had the chance, but she still ached for her doll, pilot helmet, and the flower pot. They would not mean much to anyone, being junk mostly, but they were a part of her. She wished she had them, here.

She had left so suddenly. So many years of her life had been spent on Jakku, waiting for someone to return for her. With what had happened, she could not return immediately. Jakku was a target of the First Order. That was far more foreboding than the dangers a scavenger under the protection of Unkar Plutt had ever faced. It would be a long while, at least, before she could even consider returning. It all felt rather definitive, somehow.

Rey whipped her head up. There was a feeling, like live wire on her skin, snapping into place as all other stimuli fell away.

It filled her senses, blanketing her, and making a space reserved just for her and this.

She had caught glimpses of the feeling when she had touched the lightsaber, but it was different now, with a strange realness to it as it stayed with her, as if she could cup it in her hands if she wanted to. There was warmth to it, and it filled every inch of her, and her own breathing began to sound loud to her ears-

-as did someone else’s.

There was a man in her room.

He had his back to her, dark curls bouncing as his face tilted up, the fingertips peeking out of his fingerless gloves tracing something before him. To Rey, it seemed like he traced thin air. He halted in his motions, head slanting to the side as he sensed her, and then, with a hitch in his breath, turned to face her.

Long curls hid his large ears, and went past his nape, raven hair soft and unruly. His features were unconventional, but went rather well together, adding to his air of casual intensity- jaw slightly uneven, a long nose that was balanced by generously plush lips. They left quite an impression. Rey had trouble tearing her eyes away. His eyebrows climbed high on his forehead when she came into view.

The man was- _tall_. And broad. He towered by at least a head over her, wide shoulders filling her vision. The black jacket he had on was rolled up below his elbows, revealing much of his thick corded forearms. He put his hands on his hips and leaned into her space. It pulled the navy shirt underneath taut against his vast chest. His pants were black, tucked into sturdy boots that looked like they could survive a chase on any terrain. The only bright colour on him was his belt buckle, which glinted silver. A blaster was strapped to it, among other small things Rey did not recognize.

His dark eyes caught hers, and the intensity shining in them had Rey unmoving in her spot. There was depth and far too much emotion in them as he took her in from head to toe and then back up, an array of feelings plain on his face, morphing from to interest to wonder to finally settle on a content smirk that grew the longer he held her eyes, as if they shared an understanding he was fond of.

Rey felt her breath catch and fizzle in her throat.

It was the man from her visions.

~o~

Her beautiful face twisted in a snarl to reveal perfect little teeth, delicate nose scrunching, pretty hazel eyes full of fire suddenly, and -Ben had to stumble backwards as a quarterstaff appeared in her hands and he was hit square in the face without any warning or hesitation whatsoever. The brutality of it quite literally left him breathless and made him see stars.

“ _Ow!_ ”

~o~


	4. Chapter 4

~o~

Visions or not, when a strange man shows up in a room despite the door and windows being sealed shut, drastic measures are required. And if the drive behind those measures involve a little bit of alarm that might be misconstrued as an overreaction, then -well, Rey was merely adhering very strictly to the ‘no boys allowed’ rule Poe Dameron had warned her about. The last thing she wanted was to be kicked out of the place because of this man.

The man, no longer smirking, regarded her with a touch of fear, as he clutched the right side of his face. He wasn’t bleeding, but his pale skin would bruise for sure. She would not admit it, but a ting of regret caused her to reconsider what she had just done. The bruise would run from his brow to his jaw. Maybe she had hit too hard?

But he still hadn’t run out of her room.

Rey spun her staff quickly in her hands, dug her heels into the ground, and swiped at the man again. This time, the man evaded her, and ducked with a practiced ease, clearly frightened after the first hit, and likely not realizing that Rey had aimed to miss this time. It brought his face level to her chest, and she aimed a low kick that landed right next to where his torso had been, as he slid away from her reach. In the cramped space her room provided, there was nowhere for him to escape her. Rey stood her ground, twirling her staff as he jumped up, and- landed a foot above the ground on _nothing_.

Recovering from the shock of seeing him practically floating in the air, Rey swiped at his legs with her staff, which he avoided with a neat leap, and that was followed by a clumsy fall when the other end of her quarterstaff spun around to catch his legs at a time he was too busy gazing at her face.

Rey bared her teeth at him. “Get out of my room.” He stared dumbfounded.

“I can’t,” he said, voice deep and a little breathless as he stood up cautiously, eyes not leaving her as he did so.

Rey brought the end of her staff closer to his cheek in warning. He beseeched her with wide eyes, though the slight upward quirk of his wide mouth betrayed how much he was enjoying this. “You don’t have to keep hitting me, you know.” His said it in a soft drawl that crawled up her spine in a shiver.

“You don’t have to stay in my room, you know?” Rey retorted, and he huffed, really enjoying it now. Rey inclined her staff to point behind him. “Door’s that way.”

The tip of her staff almost brushed his cheek, and he brought a hand up to curl around the tip. His eyebrows crinkled as he looked behind him, and then turned to look back at her with his lips parted. She watched realization dawned on him.

“You’re not really here.” For once, he sounded serious. And….. crazy, to her dismay.

Rey snatched her staff out of his reach, heat blooming on her cheeks at the way his fingers had completely engulfed the staff, drawing up a comparison to how he would dwarf her own hands.

“Well,” she cleared her throat, clutching the staff in front of her should he lean in any further into her space than he already had, and informed him, “the doorway out of your nightmare is right behind you.”

Eyes softening, a minute tender smile returned to his lips. Rey felt like squirming at the way he reacted to her and that only served to make her frown hard at him. “What’s your name?” He asked.

Rey raised an eyebrow. He had the audacity to not listen to her, and now he wanted to know her name?

“Seriously? You’re going to make me kick you out? I will do it, I swear.”

He worked his jaw, the motion drawing her attention to his plush lips. “The Force is connecting us. Are you doing this? The effort will kill you.” Her eyes snapped back to his at the alarm in his tone.

The fierce worry in them, especially as he stepped closer, ready to stop her when she wasn’t even _doing_ anything, made her irately blurt out, “I’m not using the Force.”

Rey puffed her cheeks, remembering the feeling that had gripped her right before he had appeared in her room. The man had straight up materialized out of thin air. Why in the world the Force would bring him to her, she had no clue. He was dressed exactly as he had been in her vision, and- she realized with a start- had been tracing something when he first appeared, precisely as she had witnessed him trace the wall in her AT-AT in her visions.

Her breath hitched.

Was he at her place? How did he find it why was he even _there_ -

"Alright, sweetheart."

Rey glowered at the man. He stared down at her, enjoying the way she fumed and clutched her staff close, seemingly preparing to hit him yet again. "Why did you call me that?" She demanded, bristling at the way his dark eyes drank her in, taking her in over and over again.

"You won't tell me your name," he reasoned with her softly, as if it were a cause of great heartache for him.

And then, just as Rey had been about to ask his whereabouts, she watched with her jaw slacking, as he disappeared right before her eyes. The bubble of warmth around her had burst. She missed it immediately.

~o~

As Rey sat there contemplating the meaning of what had just happened- and _really_ , what in the world had just happened?

There was a knock on her door, and Rey opened it to usher Rose inside. She gave Rey her new clothes- A white sleeveless tunic, brown pants that ended a little ways above her ankle, and new boots. “The General sent these for you,” she said with awe in her eyes, and Rey gaped, touching the new fabric.

“That’s so nice of her! Where is she, can I thank her?”

Rose was practically vibrating out of her skin. “We can try finding her tomorrow, if you’d like?” And then, more excitedly, “Is it true you’re a Jedi?”

Rey whipped her head up. “What?! No, I’m not!”

“But you made Finn float mid-air! Even Luke Skywalker said you’re strong in the Force!”

“Wh-How do you know that?”

“There was a secret briefing with all the other commanders where the General said you were Force-sensitive, but Poe was excited because he saw Finn float in the air along with his squad, and then he and his squad told my sister’s squad, and she told me before Poe learned it was a secret.”

“I…I’m- I found out I could use the Force yesterday.” Rey ruefully confessed, feeling her head spin at Rose’s reaction. Was everyone going to be like that? She couldn’t even control what she did with the Force, and they had already mistaken her for a Jedi. If they asked her to do something right now, Rey wasn’t sure she would be able to. She wanted to, but she had no idea how to on _purpose_. Fretfully, she regarded the way Rose looked at her- as if Rey was a special.

Rose picked up on her mood. “It’s okay,” She promised Rey, squeezing her arms, her eyes hardening. “No one’s going to ask you about it. You just got here- I shouldn’t have asked so much. I’m sorry I did.”

Rey quickly shook her head. “It’s alright. I was just surprised.” She offered a shaky smile at Rose. Rose did not seem convinced, but she accepted it, all the same.

Rey panicked when Finn popped his head in. “Finn!! No boys allowed!!”

“Oh, that was a joke, apparently,” Finn grumbled, wincing painfully as he recalled something. “So was Poe’s ‘no girls in the boys’ quarters’ rule.”

“You almost made her cry!” Rose exclaimed.

Finn’s face scrunched up, as he shook his head, trying to rid of a horrible memory. Rey pressed her lips into a thin line, suppressing a grimace. Clearly the two of them had taken Poe Dameron’s rules to heart.

The man she had hit? Attack him had been unnecessary- no one would have kicked her out of the base if they’d found him in her room. His pale skin was no doubt marred now. Guilt churning, she recalled the way he had smiled at her right before she’d wiped it off so violently.

Too late now- she wasn’t going to apologize, even if she ever saw him again. He did show up in her room without any warning, and had refused to leave afterwards. He couldn’t have expected her to _welcome_ a complete stranger such as him. Even if it was the Force- which she felt inclined to believe upon further reflection- he had acted as if he knew her, as if he _wanted_ her around, and that made no sense at all.

Unless she was not the only one who had the Force showing them visions of a complete stranger. His reaction to her made plenty of sense, if he had seen her too.

‘Alright, sweetheart’ echoed in her head, and she shook his dark eyes and full lips out of her thoughts.

“Is that Poe’s jacket?” Rose asked.

Finn straightened, smoothing his hands down his new jacket. “Yeah. He said I could keep it.”

“Huh,” was all Rose said, and then, “And is that his shirt?”

“Uh, yeah, he had spares and wanted me to wear them.”

“It looks nice,” Rey complimented, and Finn lifted his chin, smiling in delighted. “ _Thank you_.”

Finn took in Rey’s clothes, the tattered rags dirtier and beyond salvation, the bruised and cuts visible where skin was visible, the new clothes in her arms, and told her, “I’ll wait here for you. Poe showed me where the cafeteria was. I’ll take you there, if that’s alright with Rose? Poe’s waiting for us there. He, uh,” Finn snorted, shook his head in disbelief, and began, “told people you have the Force? It was supposed to be classified till you decide to reveal it. It kind of escalated, and more people than he recalls informing know. He’s trying to find all of them and swear them into secrecy.” Finn rolled his eyes, exasperated at the situation Poe had unwittingly dug himself into.

Rose scoffed, and led Rey to the refreshers. There were several of them, and Rey didn’t want to waste resources, but _gods_ , the _water_ \- she had to take a moment to relish at the shower pouring down on her, clearing the grit and sweat off of her naked skin. She scrubbed every inch till she was flushed all over, feeling soft and fresh. It’s the cleanest she had felt in a lifetime.

Dressed in her new clothes and wet hair loosely hanging up to her shoulders to dry, she left Rose flustered with her earnest gratitude. The girl agreed to let Finn take Rey when they insisted it was no trouble. Rose had done enough for her, and Rey did not want to occupy her any longer.

“I’m doing it because I like hanging out with you, silly,” Rose said, this kind girl she had met just hours ago, in this unfamiliar new place part of something much larger than her, and Rey hugged her to hide the startling effect those words had on her.

~o~

When they entered the cafeteria, it took them a moment to locate Poe. It was in the same building as the main housing area. The place was completely packed. Rows of tables held people clustered together, eating and chattering. The noise of cutlery clattering, voices booming, men and women of several species conversing filled the entire area. They did not notice Poe calling amongst it all, and it took him standing on a half-empty table close to the service and waving wildly to attract their attention. It looked like he was saving them seats, which he protected viciously.

“This is…a crowd.” Rey breathed.

Finn stuck close to her, as they made their way to Poe. “I’d heard the General Leia Organa has been recruiting more and more people- _way_ more than the First Order is comfortable with. Snoke is furious about it, especially since he pissed some systems off and that led to them funding the Resistance.”

“Why, what did he do to those systems?”

Finn looked away, his jaw set. “First Order took their young for the stormtrooper program.”

Rey snapped her mouth shut.

Poe pointed at the long counter providing catering. “Grab a tray! There’s not much left, so hurry up!” He waved them away. Rey got in line behind a girl, and followed her in grabbing a set of cutlery, a tray, and however much of whatever item she fancied. To her, there was plenty left, despite what Poe had said. The smells made her mouth water, causing her to realize exactly how long she had gone without eating anything. She took a little bit of everything, not knowing what everything was or what they would taste like.

Rey took a seat opposite Finn, who sat beside Poe. He frowned down at Rey’s tray, and then at Finn’s. “You guys didn’t get any meatballs? Are they out?” Finn shrugged. They were sure they had gotten every item.

“What?” Rey asked, scooping a spoonful of some creamy yellow substance that tasted kind of fantastically sweet and satisfying. “What’s this again?”

“Is it any good?” Finn asked, taking a tentative bite. His eyebrows rose up. “Oh, this is so much better than rations.”

Poe had gone silent. His sombre face alternated between seeing Rey attack what he informs them is, “Mashed potatoes,” and watching Finn narrowing his eyes as he savoured a pink piece of puff that had Poe briefly commenting, “Spice rolls.”

“This is great,” Rey muttered, having tried something green that crunched. It was salty and charred, and named, “Moss chips,” according to Poe.

Poe stood up. “I’m gonna get you guys some meatballs. Save my seat!”

He returned with a tray full of some angry red looking things. “Meatballs. Uh…. Not the real thing. Partly synthetic, but –should taste the same.”

“Ladies first,” Finn offered. Rey speared one on her fork, took a bite, and decided she would finish the entire thing if Finn did not want any. Finn looked like he thought similarly, after taking a bite.

Rey paid less attention to her food, and more to the chattering around them, when she heard “Luke Skywalker” in between conversations. His name was mentioned several more times, and Rey realized that a lot of the tables around them were talking about him. Their excitement about Luke Skywalker was palpable. Some were wildly speculating, and others were recounting his historical deeds in defeating the Empire.

“Poe?”

Poe folded his arms on the table, leaning forward towards her. “Yeah?”

“Has something happened with Luke Skywalker?”

Poe grew contemplative. “No? I mean, other than him being _back_.”

“Where was he?”

“He was on some Jedi mission. Not a lot of people know the details. But he’s finally back, after all these years. We might stand a chance against Snoke’s dark-side Force powers.” Poe hesitated and lowered his voice, and Rey had to lean in to catch him listlessly confess, “I’m not holding my breath, since it’s likely he won’t be working with the Resistance. He would’ve joined earlier if that was the plan. The General keeps getting asked about it, but I understand her decision to not base our plan of attack with him at the forefront. Especially since….”

When Poe was unwilling to say more, Rey prompted, “Since what?”

He waved a hand, evading with, “Look, you’re going to train under him, right?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Just- be careful. And don’t go off doing Jedi stuff on your own, alright? It’s dangerous.”

Rey raised her brows. “Do you mind telling me why?”

Poe was disinclined to elaborating, which drove Finn to cut in with, “Look, I think she deserves to know.”

“It’s kinda gruesome,” Poe disagreed.

“Which is why she needs to know,” Finn reasoned, turning to Rey.

“First Order’s supreme leader Snoke led a Jedi purge. He wants all the Jedi dead, so that no one stands against him. Now that we know you have the Force, Jakku was likely targeted because he knew you were there, somehow. He tried, but he could never win against Luke Skywalker. That’s why he’s trying other ways to weaken him.”

“Snoke has killed almost all of Luke Skywalker’s students,” Poe revealed. Rey recalled her vision of the fire, and the Jedi Master’s words about how he had not been present to stop what had happened that day.

The tall man with his dark curls had been there. Perhaps the man was a Jedi as well, then. He had survived along with Luke.

“….Except for his nephew,” Poe ended.

“Who?” Rey choked out, the breath knocked from her.

“Ben Solo. He’s General Organa and Han Solo’s son.”

It took a while for Rey to finally check, “Is he missing?”

“Uh…No? I mean, no one’s seen him around, but….” Poe shrugged with a sigh, firmly stating, “The General’s family is her personal business.”

“True,” Finn agreed, returning to his food. Poe narrowed his eyes at Rey, the unease clear in them as he made sure, “You okay?”

“Of course,” Rey managed.

She resumed eating quietly. Finn had also grown troubled over her sudden subdued manner, enough to be distracted from his meal.

“Is this the only Resistance base?” Rey changed the topic.

Poe took a moment to answer.

“It’s the primary base of operations.”

Finn chewed in thought. “But there are others, right? Contingency plans?”

“....Yeah.”

Finn slowed his chewing. “You don’t sound too sure of that.”

“Well, there is one other main base, but it’s a secret, even from most of the Resistance members. So are the men on ground. For example, I only know and communicate with _one_ other ground squad, as the commander of black squadron.”

“Smart. All the information doesn’t get leaked if you ever get captured.”

Rey slammed her palms on the table. “Kriff!”

“What? What?” Finn whirred around, looking for what had caused her to react this way.

“Uhh,” Poe muttered out of the corner of his mouth, “Is she really okay?”

“ _Guys_ \- What if the location of this base is in danger because of me?”

Poe had not caught on. “Why? Did you tell someone?”

“No, but Snoke –Finn, you said you think Jakku was targeted because of me. If Snoke knew I was there, does that mean he knows where I am right now?”

Finn and Poe stopped to mull over it. The crowd around them continued going about the end of their day, unaware of the danger they may be in.

“.....We’re not under attack right now....?” Poe hazarded, turning to Finn in question.

“Uhh... Alright, let me think.” Finn began evaluating all he knew. “Okay, so when the orders for Jakku came, it just said the Supreme Leader needed all the girls rounded up. We don’t know if it was because of you, but it’s likely. The order makes no sense otherwise. It was a weird one. Maybe he knows the Force-sensitive individual is a girl, and hasn’t narrowed it down to you yet. He would’ve ordered the ships to follow us otherwise. And then they would’ve found the base. They wouldn’t wait after finding this base- they hate the Resistance.”

“I’ll still put in a request for spikes in First Order activity, and a review of our security, just in case,” Poe decided.

Rey let their words sink in. “Right.” calmed, she returned to her food, which she finished quickly. The hunger won over her nervousness.

“More mashed potatoes?” Poe offered.

Rey shook her head. She felt completely stuffed. It was more than she had ever eaten in her life. Anymore, and she would either burst or throw up and waste all she had eaten. Besides- she couldn’t stomach more even if she wanted to. The food settled there like lead, as only question after question still worried her mind.

Finn watched her stand up. “Are you going back to your room?”

Rey nodded, and then changed her mind. “I will, I just… I want to check with Luke Skywalker on whether the location of this base is in danger.”

“We don’t know where he is,” Poe pointed out regretfully.

Poe was right. Luke hadn’t been in the cafeteria. Rey had seen him last with the General upon reaching D’Qar. Not only was the layout of the base unfamiliar, she had no idea where Luke Skywalker could be at this hour.

Rey remembered the alertness she had for the Jedi, a day ago when she fixed the Falcon. She had sensed his presence, then. It had an unwavering characteristic to it. Full of strength, but quiet, and completely at ease. He was formidable, but also peaceful. Rey searched for the existence of it, realizing the very atmosphere stirred around her as she actively sought him out.

There were many sensations- far too many present, far too many around her. Finn was there, steady, and pulsating reassuringly, solid like the ground beneath them. Poe was also there, too subtle for her to realize until she honed in, but identifiable, once she did. They were the two she recognized now, among numerous others living beings, far too many for her to put a face to or trace. Her breath stuttered at the magnitude of this new dimension the Force allowed her awareness of.

But she could not discern Luke Skywalker among it all. Trying to bring out the presence from her memories, she attempted to connect it with everything she felt through the Force. Rey felt for it, the same signs of his existence as that day, and found wisps of it, far away from her. They slipped through her attention, too subtle for her to hold on to. Rey recalled it, and reached out for it again, following it till it grew….

“He’s outside the base.”

….And grew….

“Behind the airfield.”

….And grew.

“In the hills.”

Poe was extremely impressed. “Right. The Force.”

“Be careful,” Finn called after her.

The air outside was cool on the skin of her bared arms and face. Her hair had mostly dried, and she repeatedly brushed a hand over her head to keep them from her face. The chatter from the base became a distant murmur, as she crossed the field teeming with fighters. Having gotten the hang of it, Rey reached out in the Force, and found no wildlife threatening her path. Luke was past a valley, and the light from the base only illuminated her way till she reached the end of it.

Rey passed several low hills, wishing she had her quarterstaff with her to accompany this trek. The uneven vegetation, sometimes slippery, caused her to watch her footing. Trees greeted her after the hills, and Rey could feel Luke amongst them. Her search for him had brought her further than she had anticipated. The base was too far now. She couldn’t hear a single sound of civilization.

Rey entered the forest, and it grew too dark for her to see. The stars did not shine through the canopy overhead. For a moment, she feared getting lost, and hastily reached out for Luke’s presence. When she found it easily, almost as if it had reached back, Rey took it as guidance and went straight. She proceeded slowly, resolute about not straying from her straight path, pausing every now and then to curiously check whether Finn could be sensed behind her, growing relieved when he could.

The trees cleared, and the stars shone again, barely illuminating Luke Skywalker. Rey stayed near the edge of the clearing, observing in awe.

Luke floated well above her in the air, his legs folded beneath him, and eyes closed. He hardly seemed to breath, and his concentration was effortless.

“You’ve grown stronger,” Luke called, jerking Rey. She was sure she hadn’t made any sound. He must have sensed her the way she sensed him through the Force. Rey hadn’t meant to disturb, but had failed in doing exactly that, without even meaning to.

“In such a short time, too,” Luke observed thoughtfully. Rey remained quiet, waiting for him to finish whatever he appeared to be busy doing. The last thing she wanted was for him to fall and break a hip.

“........Are you going to keep standing there or are you going to ask whatever questions plague your mind?”

“I don’t want you to drop out of the air,” Rey confessed ruefully, and the Jedi Master cracked an eye open to look offended that she would think so.

“Ask away,” he nudged, still resolutely floating in the air.

Rey organized her thoughts –far too many- and took a deep breath as she considered what to prioritize.

“Was Snoke searching Jakku for me? He knew I was there- does he know I’m in D’Qar as well? Doesn’t that mean the location of the Resistance base is in danger?” Her urgency grew with each question that left her mouth.

Luke remained unfazed. “He sensed an awakening in the Force, as did I. If he knew you, Rey, he would be targeting you this very moment. He only chased the source of the awakening to Jakku, and that was because he was already close by. He does not know your current location. I am sure of it.”

“Okay,” Rey reacted, relieved.

Luke waited.

“The Force, does it..... What else can it do?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “It’s the middle of the night! I’m not starting your lessons _now_. The rest of your questions can wait till we begin.”

“Can I ask just one last thing? Just one- the last one, I promise,” Rey begged, fists clenched as she awaited his approval.

Luke took a long look at her, and agreed, “Just one.”

Rey swallowed, mouth feeling stuffed full of cotton. She thought back to what she had learned, to all that had happened to her today, and shakily blurt out, “I saw another man alongside you, on the day of the fire. Who was he?”

At this, Luke’s eyes grew sharper. He descended from the air, unfolding his legs to land on them without a sound. Rey shivered, feeling the Force around her shift slightly. Luke had the air of someone who had learned something new, despite being the one to answer a question, not obtain the answer to one.

“My nephew, Ben Solo.”

~o~

When Luke left Rey at the main housing building, she found Finn and Poe waiting for her at the empty cafeteria. They walked her back to her quarters. She promised to wake them up for breakfast. “Knock before you enter, or I might be naked,” Poe warned, and the plain horror on Finn’s face, who shared a room with Poe, filled her with renewed affection for the two.

Rey realized belatedly, that she had returned too late to ask for a blanket.

Lying down on her bed, Rey crossed her arms around her chest. Rubbing her arms, she pulled her knees up, and curled in for warmth.

She lay alone with her thoughts.

They drifted.

Ben Solo-

Han Solo had been looking for him.

His family had been to Jakku, based off of a mere comment, looking for him.

They’re actively searching for him, and he hasn’t even informed them of his whereabouts.

Ben Solo has a family searching for him.

And he doesn’t even _care_.

Rey squeezed her eyes shut.

Perhaps she was mistaken, and he did not know his family searched for him. She could seek out Luke Skywalker again, and tell him his nephew was in Jakku. And if the Force ever brought Ben Solo to her for a second time, she could let him know about his family. Maybe upon hearing how his family sought him, sick with worry, he would come to D’Qar for them. Rey would tell him.

She does not know what she would do if he did not care.

She hoped it never came to that.

~o~

Rey awoke, tugged insistently by an invisible chord around her.

It started with a spark, and grew to encase her. She tuned in, and memorized it. There was a special space created, just for her and this, again. It filled her completely, spreading out till it connected her to another- The gentle warmth Rey wanted to grab with her hands and blanket her body with. It was here again, and it attuned her senses to the one connected to her at the other end of it. She could bask in this forever; fall asleep to the comfort of it.

The Force settled. Rey opened her eyes. Light filled her room.

Long, long legs in black pants and heavy soled boots came into her view.

Ben Solo bent his knees unhurriedly to crouch before her bed, bringing their faces to the same level, elbows bracing on his knees. Tilting his head till it aligned with hers, his eyes washed all over her face, from her open hair, to her slightly unfocused eyes, straying down to her open neckline, and hastily returning to her eyes. He was almost the same as when he had first appeared before her, minus the missing belts and gloves, and the untucked state of his shirt.

There was very little bruising on his face, aside from a slightness redness where she had hit him, to her surprise. Feelings her actions justified, but still a touch remorseful for the intensity of them, Rey awaited his response to meeting her again. She _had_ attacked rather cruelly- and repeatedly, too. It must have smarted badly, at least. Anyone would be infuriated to be at the receiving end of it.

Ben Solo, however, gave the impression of someone who felt the opposite.

“Alright, sweetheart?”

Heat bloomed in her chest, and to her cheeks, at the curious rise in his teasing words.

“I’m starting to think you _like_ getting chased with a stick.”

“You seem lively aggravated.”

“Oh, I’m too passive for you this way?”

“I’ll never reject either.” A pause for a thought, and then, “Did I wake you?”

Rey tried to stifle her yawn, and failed.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just waiting out a sandstorm on my end,” he muttered, appearing content to simply revel in her sleepy presence.

It was a startling contrast to discontent she suffered. Rey had not forgotten about the havoc in her mind, and this man before her was at the centred of it.

Rey lifted her head off of the pillow, and he followed with the straightening of his head.

If he was at her AT-AT when the storm began, it explained why he had said he couldn’t leave. And it meant he was still there.

“Sandstorms can change the land. Your ship will be deep under when it’s over.”

“I’ll bring it out.” He was confident of it.

“What, with the Force?”

“Of course.”

With Rey sat on the edge of her bed, he still loomed upon straightening his back. Their nearness made the brown in his eyes, something she noticed now, more apparent. Rey gripped the edge of her bed tight.

She watched the brown in his widening eyes catch more light and tremble with her next words.

“There are food rations from the Millennium Falcon behind the wall with the marks. Parts from the freighter are further inside the walker, hidden beneath panels marked with crosses, six locations in total. Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Luke Skywalker gave them to me as payment for fixing their ship when they were in Jakku searching for you. They’re no longer in Jakku- they’re with your mother. I know where they are. I’ll tell you, if you ask. Ask me, Ben Solo.”

Rey held his wavering gaze steadily. He blanched, and couldn’t speak a word. The pleasant fullness the Force created in the presence of Ben Solo stirred. This disruption came from his unsettled state. He didn’t ask how she knew his exact whereabouts. As if he had expected to find her capable of such knowledge, and unsurprised by it. Maybe in turn, he even knew where she was, or had been.

She had yet to reveal his family’s location.

She waited, and he did not ask for it.

He did not tell her if he knew it.

It was telling enough.

“Take them. Other scavengers will have stolen them by the time I return.”

“You plan to return.” Ben uttered lowly. His sudden calm caused Rey to furrow her eyebrows.

“I have to.”

“Why? There’s nothing for you here.”

Rey drew up a shallow breath. “Don’t presume,” She warned.

“You know me because the Force connects us. I know you too. I knew even before hearing everything the blobfish had to say about you. Your parents sold you. They’re not coming back for you. You keep waiting for them to. You have hope, but it’s destroying you. It’s causing you to wasting your life away. Don’t you see how it hurts you?”

“I am not taking advice from someone who disregards his own family and does as he pleases!” Rey hissed with venom.

Unable to bear even _looking_ at him anymore, she turned away with fury.

She hated him. Hated his words, hated how true they rang. Hated how she had always known.

Tears stung her eyes. They overflowed, wetting her cheeks and the pillow underneath when she returned to it.

She silenced her sobs with a hand.

She wanted him gone. Rey closed her eyes and tried to pretend he was.

Ben Solo was silent behind her. The familiarity of his presence in the Force pulsated over her. Full of an erratic energy, wisps of a biting undertone shone through. But the radiance overwhelmed it, fluidly smothering the hint of murky sharpness with layers and layers of the same feeling she wanted to be smothered in. It surged with an unchallenged intensity, ceaseless and unrestrained.

It was impossible to ignore.

Rey would recognize it anywhere now, the same way she would Finn, Poe, and Luke Skywalker.

Her ears picked up the rustle of heavy fabric. Heavy footsteps sounded behind her, approaching till they stopped close by. Slowly, a large cloak was settled over her with a tenderness that was almost timid. Ben’s hand appeared in front of her face, long fingers tugging the fabric over her shoulders as Rey lay still. The weight of it hugged her comfortingly, gradually warming her up. It smelled faintly of smoke and something sweet.

Rey held her breath.

A tentative whisper, for her, “Sweet dreams, Rey of Jakku.”

And then she was alone again.

~o~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter basically kinda sets what this fic will revolve around. It started out as an excuse to write them crushing and flirting like teenagers while addressing issues that their different upbringings and views would result in. The 'Estranged Ben Solo' tag applies very heavily as does 'Rey makes friends' along with Rey being a drop of sunshine that deserves all the happiness in the world I don't know how to tag that but god I love Rey fight me in the pit for her Sidious-
> 
> .......Some tags may be missing, but that wasn't done on purpose. I just haven't gotten the hang of tagging (like is there too little of a thing for it to require a tag, is there enough of it, etc). There's already almost 20k words likely because I'm enjoying this a bit too much since I'm kinda new to the ship and the fandom. I already have a rough outline planned for where this is going and how it'll end, but boy am I getting sidetracked with the character interactions.
> 
> Onward we go. Hope you're enjoying reading this, and thank you!


	5. Chapter 5

~o~

Something was knocking. Or being knocked.

Groaning, Poe turned in his bed. It was so _early_.

The sound died down. Blissful in the silence, he began dozing off again. He was comfortable. He loved his bed, it was the best.

More knocking.

“I think someone’s at the door.”

Who said that?

Oh, right. Finn. He shared his room with Finn, now. Finn was on the bed opposite his.

Finn began rising up. Poe got up before he could.

“I’ll get it.”

Someone was at their door, indeed. The sudden brightness pouring in forced him to squint.

“Who is it?” Poe yawned.

“Seriously? What, are you sleepwalking?”

Poe blinked rapidly, gradually opening his eyes when they adjusted to the light.

“You look like you slept in hell last night.”

Rey’s annoyance grew. She slouched, her hair up in three tight buns. Strands of hair had escaped and stuck to the side of her face endearingly. It looked like she had had a rough night. Not only had she gone to sleep late last night after the eventful day she had been subjected to, but there was also the matter of her adjusting to the time cycle in D’Qar. Even Finn had dozed off with his head on Poe’s shoulders waiting for Rey last night, and had to be nudged awake once Rey had returned.

She blinked blearily at him.

“And you look..... Surprisingly good- Do you always wake up looking like this?”

Poe grinned, waving Rey into their room, and motioning for her to sit on his bed. “So, what are you doing here so early?”

“I said I’d wake you for breakfast. Come on!”

Poe groaned, “It _really_ early.”

Rey shrugged a shoulder unapologetically. The puffiness around her eyes, coupled with her pout, badly required several more hours of sleep. He was certain if her head hit the pillow now, she would be out till noon with no interruptions.

“I wasn’t going to wake so soon, but someone had been by my room.” Her irritation about it added a hostile edge to her words. “I thought you would be up by the time I got here.”

Poe wanted to suggest they nap for several more hours. Rey was already on his bed and she certainly looked like she longed to lie down, and Poe could just.... squeeze in with Finn maybe. But, alas, Rey had trudged all the way here and even found their rooms without them leaving her with directions, so she deserved her efforts to be rewarded with breakfast served hot from the stove just as she wanted.

Finn, bless him, had gone from asleep to awake as if a switch had been turned on. The man was adjusting fast. He had already made his bed, grabbed his supplies, and was heading out to the freshers. Poe grabbed his own once he felt willing enough, and followed.

When he returned, Finn silenced him frantically from his bed. He pointed to Poe’s.

Rey was curled up in it, fast asleep.

~o~

Softly, so softly it felt like a voice inside her head, “Rey.”

Rey paid it no mind.

Again, louder this time, “Rey,” with a gentle rocking of her body.

It sounded like Finn. The comfortable haze began to lift from her mind.

“Good morning,” Finn greeted her.

Rey rubbed her eyes. “Was I out for long?”

“Just over an hour. You looked like you needed it, so we didn’t wake you.” Finn pulled her up by the arms and sat her down his bed.

“Yeah- they start serving breakfast around this time, though, so we figured it was time,” Poe said with a smile tossed her way. Finn joined him in making his bed.

By the time they were ready to leave, Rey was feeling much better, and certainly ready to start the day. It was a vast improvement from the state she had initially woken up in.

A woman named Connix had shown up at her door with fresher supplies and a blanket. Connix had been gracious and perfectly poised with her blonde hair up in two tight buns, not a single strand out of place despite the hour, and a raised voice that chased away any hints of sleep Rey had. The girl had been unfazed by the protests from the rooms near them, including Rose and her sister’s, and had resumed speaking with Rey as loudly as her enthusiasm demanded her to.

Rey was certain she had come off as standoffish in comparison. Especially more so since Rey had opened the door wrapped up in a ‘blanket’.

_That_ had led to a conversation drawn out by plenty of embarrassingly long pauses in between Connix’s innocent enquiries and Rey’s vague answers on how nice it was that someone had already been by to give her a blanket last night, how considerate of them. Now Rey had no blanket of her own to keep her warm through the night- just something that belonged to a stranger.

Finding Finn and Poe’s room had been troublesome given the hour. Rey had to resort to using the Force –since the Force was working that way anyways- in order to pinpoint which room belonged to Finn and Poe when she found no one to ask for directions from.

Breakfast did not disappoint. Rey was almost glad she was up so early for it. There were no sights of Rose yet at this hour. The cafeteria was decidedly emptier in the morning, and they had a table near the service area all to themselves. Soft breads and rolls awaited them, along with spreads ranging from sweet to sour. Fruits and juices made from them were available, along with milk and caf. And egg- yellow fluffy scoops of cooked _egg_.

“When is the briefing?” Finn asked as they dug in.

“It’s….” Poe took a look at the chronometer above the service counters, “… still over two hours till it begins. Plenty of time left.”

“Who’s attending?”

“Mainly the General, High Command, senior officers, and the two of you.”

Rey looked up from her tray. Having Finn at the briefing was a given. He was a former stormtrooper with vital information that would work against the First Order. But Rey on the other hand, had no such thing to offer. She was not expecting her presence to be demanded alongside his.

“Are you sure I have to be there as well?”

“ _Please_ be there,” Finn begged. Rey realized he had stopped eating. He appeared…… decidedly unwell.

“Finn, what’s wrong?” Rey asked out of worry.

Finn put his fork down.

“Uh, well, I’m technically from the enemy. I don’t imagine everyone is going to be happy to have me on board.”

Poe knocked the younger man forward with the force of his slap on the back. “Are you kidding me? You’re considered a hero for what you did!”

“Finn, it’s alright! If they didn’t trust you, then they’d be interrogating you,” Rey pointed out quickly in an attempt to comfort him.

“She’s right, actually,” Poe confirmed after a thoughtful hum, causing Finn to grow more stressful and Rey to shoot him a glare. It prompted him into action.

“Everyone’s glad you joined us, pal. Don’t worry about it. We were there to stop a First Order assault thanks to you. It’s kind of made a lot of people realize why the Resistance is needed. We actually have more governments in favour of our operation now.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Finn supplied, sagging in relief.

“Poe will be there. I’ll be there as well,” Rey promised solemnly.

Finn voiced his gratitude for the support, finally returning to his food with a sigh.

Poe pointed at Rey. “You better, or the General will have my head.”

~o~

They had time before the briefing began following their meal, so Poe decided to drag them along with him to check on his droid. Rey was momentarily distracted in her admiration of the planet in the morning light when they left the shade of the main quarters.

She could not get enough of the greenery. Surrounding the airfield, flat plains of grass led to plenty of the hills and forests beyond. They stretched in all directions around them, seemingly endless. Not a cloud could be seen in the clear blue sky, and the heat from the sun was a comfort she could bathe in without feeling the need to seek protect.

Officers disappear into the stations on the base with datapads in their hands, ready for morning checkups.

“Poe?” She called.

“Yeah?”

“What sort of work will I be doing around the base? Has it been decided yet?”

“No, nothing’s been decided yet.”

They slowed their walk along the airfield. Poe rubbed his neck, his discomfort evident. “We, uh- you sure you want to join the Resistance? There’s going to be a war. We could use all the help we can get, but... you don’t have to stay.”

At those words from Poe, Finn looked to Rey with a touch of doubt in his eyes. He parted his lips as if to speak, then went silent and waited to hear what Rey would answer.

Rey had not considered leaving as an option.

The Force made her capable of things she wanted to learn more of. It was strange and out of her depth, but provided her with opportunities beyond anything a scavenger from Jakku could have dreamt of. Being able to save Finn had been only been the beginning for her, this much she was aware of. Who knew what else she could do? It had been both exhilarating and frightening. And she longed to know much more.

With her newfound ability to use the Force, Rey had an option here. She could help the Resistance. And then, with Finn and Poe and Rose and everyone else she had met, she would be fighting for something good. Rey would be able to help people and protect those who could not protect themselves. And in the process, perhaps she would discover more about herself.

She could not forget Rose’s reaction to her having the Force. It was the most hopeful Rey had felt in years.

The words from last night began to sting more.

“I’m staying. I want to help the Resistance.”

Finn let go a breath he had been holding, and Poe’s eyes lit up. “Well, in that case.....Glad to have you aboard. You, uh, you can tell me what you’re good at, and we’ll figure out where to put you.”

“Okay,” Rey pondered on all the skills she had gained as a scavenger, and began listing them tentatively, “I can fix flyers. I have studied the schematics of Republic and Imperial ships. I can recognize the model and make of most registered flyers and freighters. I know how to..... ” She dithered, choosing to interpret the excitement Poe displayed as a sign she was on the right track, and continued, listing the works she had done over the years on fixing ships for Plutt.

It was a long list.

“We can find several places for you, but I think we need you most in repairs. Is that alright?” Poe checked.

Rey nodded emphatically, finding the smile Poe gave her infectious. “That’ll be great.”

Poe began leading them to the hangars down the field. He rambled on proudly about his droid. Finn listened intently. Rey paid only half a mind to his words as she took in the terrain of this planet.

Luke Skywalker was disappearing off into one of the hills, dressed neatly in a tidy beige outfit and brown robes.

“Guys, wait, I’ll be right back.” Finn and Poe turned at her words to find her darting off across the airfield.

For a man who had presented himself with all the grace of a serene being untouched by any troubles last night, Luke Skywalker was in a visible rush. Rey ran to catch him before he disappeared into the forests.

“Master Skywalker!”

Upon hearing her call, Luke stopped at the edge of the greenery for her. From the look on his face, Rey had the inkling that the man had half debated ignoring her, and was regretting having decided otherwise. Underneath his beige robes, he wore some very comfortable looking white attire.

“I swear if it’s about the Force,” Luke griped, eyebrows set low on his forehead.

Rey rethought her questions about the Force. “How are you today?” She asked courteously instead.

Luke Skywalker narrowed his eyes further in suspicion.

“You know I can sense your intentions, right?”

Rey reeled back. “Is that-is that a thing? You can tell what I’m thinking?”

“That requires a touch more effort. And I am not putting any effort into this,” stated Luke Skywalker, standing straighter as he studied her. “Your excitement is all over the place. I can’t even find Leia over how loud it is. It’s almost impressive.”

Rey grimaced. “I don’t know what do to about that.”

He sighed, waving a hand for her to drop it for now.

“I was just going to ask when our lessons would begin....” She broached.

“Come find me after the briefing.” He raised an eyebrow, pausing before adding, “If you’re still interested by then.”

Rey felt her hackles rising. “I’m not taking this lightly. I won’t change my mind,” She maintained firmly.

“You’ll have to dedicate a lot of time to it. It doesn’t pay credits,” Luke cautioned her. “It won’t be like the other offers you’ll get.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to. I... wait-what other offers?”

The Jedi Master gave off the air of one smugly in possession of knowledge he intended to keep to himself till an opportunity for a grand reveal presented itself.

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough,” he left her with those cryptic words, dismissing her with a wave of his hand, and called, “Enjoy the briefing,” over his shoulders as he disappeared into the green.

Rey let out a long sigh.

Luke Skywalker was difficult to deal with. It must run in the-

Rey turned away. She began making her way to Finn and Poe, resolutely not thinking of other members of that family.

But her mind returned to the one specific man, anyways.

Despite the opportunity, Rey had not revealed her connection to his nephew. Her initial plan had been to tell the Jedi Master, but her conversation with Ben Solo last night changed things.

Ben Solo knew his family was searching for him, and he likely knew their location- or did not care to know it. Once she let his family know about the access she had to him, they might request her to act as a medium for communicating with him.

The thought did not settle well with Rey. She had already allowed Ben Solo the chance to return. But the man had not taken it, and neither had he spoken a word about his family.

There was nothing she would be able to do for his parents. If they were unable to convince him to return, then Rey would definitely fail as well. She would not be able to bear witness to their longing for him, while he went about ignoring them so fully.

She couldn’t. The thought of it burned her.

His eyes came to mind, they way they never dared stray from her no matter how difficult their conversations had gotten.

Rey halted in her steps, screwing her eyes shut with a curse.

For a moment, everything around her snapped away. Giving her the illusion of being separated from her surroundings by a very thin barrier, warmth, so familiar she mistook it for a recollection of yesterday’s memories, submerged her.

She knew it was him, it was impossible to mistake it now. She had spent the night memorizing him, and now she couldn’t steer clear of this manifestation if she wanted to.

Rey spun on her heels, finding no one behind. Confused, she twisted on her spot, eyes frantic as the feeling tugged at her restlessly. She staggered on her feet when he was finally in her sights, and forced her body to immediately regain footing.

The emerald hills behind him were far away, so were Finn and Poe waiting across the field. Everything was, except for him.

In the middle of the concrete airfield, Ben Solo looked like he had gotten to his feet in a hurry. He was dressed fully in his gear, down to the fingerless gloves. Hair a disarray and swept away from his face, the slack look on his face was some comfort to her, if only to inform her that he was as unprepared to face her as she was to face him. Ben Solo stood in his spot at a loss for words upon finding her, and merely continued acknowledging her existence silently.

Rey did not know how to begin with him.

He was easier to read than Luke Skywalker, when she tried. No longer glowing so blindingly like yesterday, the dull feeling tugged at her heart. It matched the cheerless downward tug of the corner of his lips, and mirrored how she felt. She wasn’t the only one still suffering from yesterday.

Rey couldn’t help recall what he had done afterwards. Neatly folded at the end of her bed, the dark cloak remained in her possession. She could run back to her room and return it to him, right at this moment. And then... and then what?

The boy was kind. Just like everyone else in his family.

She was not an enemy to him, despite their rude intrusion into the other’s life. It was apparent in his actions, words, and the very way he looked at her now.

Rey was not prepared for it. Not in broad daylight in the middle of the Resistance base, with Finn and Poe staring right at her. Not with his words from the night before being the source of the painful ache she felt deep within.

“Poe- Wait! I’m coming!” She yelled back in reply to the boys threatening to leave her standing there, and took long strides in their direction. It diverted slightly from her path to Ben, who remained rooted in his spot as she approach him fast. When she reached Ben, she turned her body discreetly to avoid bumping into him, and gasped.

Ben had twisted to make way for her as well, their chests almost brushing, and in that moment, a flicker of something jumped between them with the promise of what would take place if they ever touched. It began from the air separating them, a tiny speck of erratic energy, quickly grew as it swept through their bodies in a jolt, the electrifying connection dying down when _Ben_ had the sense to swear and jerk back, for Rey had been too caught up in it.

Rey came to gain the startling appreciation for how the Force had really brought him here, a reality only for her to see and to _feel_ if she reached out. He had felt it too, and his audible intake of breath had her tilting up to see his expression.

She faced away from the stunned eagerness for more he wore plainly for her to see, and broke into a small run to hide her own little thrill.

Echoes of it ran through her body for moments afterwards.

No matter how far she followed Finn and Poe, she could still feel Ben Solo.

Curious, Rey glanced back to find him leaning a shoulder against an invisible wall, fiddling a small metallic object in his hands, as he followed her intently with bright eyes. Rey tore her eyes away. Finn and Poe did not appear to have been alerted to his presence at all.

Ben Solo did not walk with her, but he did not need to. The distance between them grew when Rey was looking, and when she faced forward and then looked over her shoulder again, he was closer. Every time she did it, he remaining a fixed distance apart from her.

The droid Poe had spoken of was a BB-series astromech droid with unique customizations he boasted about. It was a round excitable thing that Poe treated like he had personally spawned it. Poe Dameron was obsessed with it. It rolled between Poe, and Finn, and Rey, beeping ‘hello’ and letting out a shrill noise when it could not decide who to focus on.

Poe was speaking, but Rey wasn’t listened. Her eyes had strayed to Ben. He turned to someone Rey could not see and muttered, “Not today, Gee-gee. We’re making the drop to Maz’s first.”

BB-8 bumped into Rey. Rey looked down to find it curiously tilting up at her. Finn was in the cockpit of Poe’s X-wing, and Poe had half his body inside. Their concentration unwavering, Poe directed Finn to obtain readings from the engine.

Rey sat down before the droid. “Hello, BB-8. I’m Rey.” The droid beeped excitedly, introducing itself, listing its specifications, and its main responsibilities. Rey couldn’t help the wide smile her lips fell open to. “I can tell you’re a very busy droid.” The droid beeped sadly, cheering up and agreeing wholeheartedly when Rey suggested, “Would you like to join me for a break sometimes?”

Rey turned to check on the other man in the room.

Ben Solo had also sat down following her, cross-legged on the floor, chin in his hands as he idly watched her. He straightened instantaneously, and dropped his hands to his lap, when Rey paid him mind. For a moment, she was taken aback at the way he clearly wished to speak with her. It was becoming increasingly hard to not take notice of it.

Rey parted her lips, taking in a breath as she considered whether to address him.

Ben Solo saw this, and his response to it was impossible to mistake for something else. The man was like an open manual. He wasn’t even trying to hide his interest. Rey was almost compelled to tell him to breathe, for his wide shoulders wound up tensely, tips of his fingers touching the floor, the entirety of his huge frame angling towards her as he waited for her words with bated breath.

Letting out a sigh, her head dropped to break away from the intensity of his unyielding gaze. She needed to return what was his, thank him for the kindness, and then figure out what to do with this strange connection of theirs moving forward. If only he asked for it back. That would make it much easier on her.

They knew far too much about each other to pretend they were actual strangers. But in reality, they did not know the other at all. The scathing words they had recently exchanged, fuelled by too much insight into the other’s life, soured things between them.

Ben Solo sighed. He had resumed his earlier position of lazily observing her with his chin in his hands. Despite how it caused him to fold in, it did nothing to lessen the impressiveness of his stature.

His feelings in the matter did not seem as complicated as Rey’s were. Rey closed her eyes. “Seriously?” She muttered under her breath, thinking she had heard him huff at her choice of word.

She did catch him curse the Force when it took him away, that one was hard to mistake.

~o~

General Organa led the Resistance with a conviction for her cause.

She was admired for it. Many of the officers were older than the General, far past their prime and driven by the same fire from their Rebel days, but Leia Organa was the one they relied on. It was evident in the way they deferred to her when it came to decisions.

She was also strong in the Force. As strong as Luke Skywalker, or perhaps even more. The mark Leia Organa left in the Force was almost sharp in a manner, just like her tongue. She wore the brightness like a weapon, except it was a comfort that layered her surroundings, as if meant to defend those who were her own ferociously.

In a simplistic blue dress with greying hair tightly wound up in a braided bun, the light from the holos reflected off of her mellow features. Before them, images of Jakku being evacuated played.

According to the intel the Resistance had gathered in the subsequent analysis of the First Order actions in Jakku, the planet had not been left after the Resistance had combated the First Order assault on it. Many had seen it as a sign of the planet no longer being safe, and traffic from the residents leaving had increased. The objectives of the First Order remained unclear, until reports from the returning patrols told of residents held captive questioned after a girl displaying recent signs of Force-sensitivity.

Poe chanced a glance back to meet eyes with Rey and Finn in the corner they had been unassumingly occupying.

He was one of the many looking their way.

Rey ignored them, and focused on the General.

The two droids accompanying her, one a blue and white astromech R2 series droid that had seen years of service, and the other a decided unhelpful golden human-cyborg relations droid that exclaimed, “Oh my, Master Luke was indeed right,” from across the room to Rey, but was quickly silenced before another word with a quelling look from the General.

“Poe? Word on the scouts?”

“Right.” Poe pulled up a star chart, drawing everyone’s attention to it. “First Order cruisers and flighters were tracked to the Unknown Regions. Reports of increased activity in the Ilum System, but we have no location of the destination of this fleet.”

“They’re returning to Starkiller base,” Finn said, voice carrying in the silence.

People were looking their way again.

“Will that be all?” The General asked, and no one around the control room had more to add. She looked at Rey, and then at Finn.

“Finn, is it?” Leia Organa inquired.

Finn straightened. “Yes, ma’am.”

A pretty smile softened her eyes, her beauty shining through accentuate by her age. “That was very brave of you, renouncing the First Order. We saved a lot of lives because of your message.”

“Thank you, ma’am. But that was only the beginning of what the First Order has planned.”

Heated murmurs broke out around the room at his words. Finn pressed his lips into a thin line, waiting for them to quieten. Rey hovered beside him uncomfortably.

“Let’s hear what else they’ve got planned,” The General announced spiritedly, bringing silence back to the room. She had a spark in her eyes, undeterred by the great threats they were going to be made aware of.

“Uh...okay,” Finn stepped forward at Poe’s beckoning, and studied the star map.

“How long do I have?” Finn asked Poe, trying to be subtle about it.

Poe covered his mouth as he asked back, “How long will you need?” Their voices carried despite their efforts.

“There’s kind of a lot to cover. Like- a whole lot.” Finn told him.

Uneasy mutterings could be heard around the table.

The General raised her eyebrows at the duo. “Take as much time as you need,” she called, drawing attention and causing the boys to jump apart.

Finn indicated a region of clusters on the star map. “Let’s start with Starkiller base.”

~o~

By the time Finn had finished detailing the semantics of Starkiller base and the actions the planet destroying machine was intended for, most of the officers were at various states of mute distress. One frail officer looked close to fainting. Everyone was grateful when the general took one look around the room and suggested a break.

Poe brought Finn over to Rey. He patted Finn on the shoulder. “I think that went pretty well.”

Finn did not appear to think so. “Maybe I should’ve started with the weaknesses of the base. You know, to.....”

“Ease off the feelings of hopelessness this thing has inspired?” Rey suggested.

“Hey, no one said they’re scared of this thing,” Poe scolded, offended that Rey would imply so. “We can blow it up, and we will.”

“With my permission, of course,” a bemused voice spoke from behind Finn. He jumped in his surprise, leaping away from Leia Organa.

“Of course, General Organa,” Poe promised with deference. The General appeared doubtful.

Leia Organa moved on to address Finn and Rey. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced. Finn,” She smiled at Finn, and looked to Rey with dark eyes that were startlingly familiar, “Rey.”

“Rey knows her way around fighter engines. She wants to join and help the Resistance,” Poe interjected excitedly.

Leia hummed in thought. “Well, I actually had another proposition in case you decided to stay, but,” she shared a look with Poe, “we could really use more help with the fighters.”

Rey was instantly reminded of what Luke had alluded to. She wasn’t going to refuse if she was needed elsewhere. “I can help with other things as well. Whatever is required.”

Leia cupped a hand around her cheek, causing any other words Rey would have said to die at her throat at the affectionate touch. Her prompt offer was met with an appreciative smile from Leia, even as she left things up in the air with a genial, “You don’t want to be stuck with me the entire day. But, thank you for considering it.”

Rey assumed that to be the other offer Luke had meant. Until they ran into Han Solo waiting for his wife after the briefing ended.

“There’s place in the Falcon for more crew. We might get busy making drops for the Resistance again. It wouldn’t pay well, but.... It’ll be in credits,” Han had put forth shiftily, growing uncomfortable with Rey’s growing elation. Explaining why she had to decline the job offer– an actual job like the first time they had compensated her for fixing their ship, far from the dangerous action the Resistance would be part of - felt more like a victory than a loss.

She could not imagine Luke’s words to have alluded to anything else. Why he imagined her to be immediately swayed by the offers was vexing. Rey had not chosen to learn more of the Force on a whim. Surely the Jedi Master did not doubt her resolve.

It drove Rey to hunt down Luke Skywalker instead of joining her friends for lunch.

When Rey found him inside the Millennium Falcon she presented him with a fierce, “I have heard the other offers. I already told you I wanted to learn more about the Force. It’s not a decision I’ve taken lightly.”

With a heavy nod, the Jedi Master stood up, saying “Let’s get started then,” with a flourish.

He raised his eyebrows when Rey shuffled her feet.

“We’re not going to skip lunch, are we?”

~o~


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: mild non-consensual touching (not by any of the characters tagged)

~o~

After a hurried lunch, Luke took them far from the base. They trudged through the uneven greens, crossing streams and forests till they found plains he deemed suitable for her training.

“This planet isn’t ideal for tapping into the Force, but.....” Luke sat down cross-legged on the wild grass, indicating Rey should do the same opposite him, “this will have to do.”

Rey took her place opposite him, mirroring his position. Long blades of grass tickled her bared skin wherever they reached. “Does the Force have something to do with why we are so far from the base?”

“It’s to minimize distractions,” Luke explained, and breathed in deeply, settling into his spot with eyes closed.

“Now. Tell me, Rey of Jakku. Why do you wish to know more of the Force?”

“I want to help people.”

“Excellent answer,” Luke cracked an eye open, “if you’re running for senate.”

“Is that so wrong?”

Luke Skywalker opened both eyes, and peered at Rey. “It has caused many to turn to the dark.”

Rey pressed her lips into a thin line, feeling chastised despite not having done anything particularly wrong.

“That’s not my intention,” Rey stressed.

“No one plans on falling.”

Luke looked resigned, almost sad, even. Despite him having agreed to teach her, there was new uncertainty in Rey’s mind regarding his willingness. Much of her hopes relied on Luke Skywalker giving her lessons. He looked as if he expected disappointment of sorts.

And they hadn’t even begun yet.

“The Force helped me save Finn. I don’t understand how it did, but I was glad. I don’t understand what it is, or why I have it. I don’t even know what to do with it, and I need help.”

In her desperation, Rey had revealed much of her truth.

Luke studied her for a moment that stretched out.

“Your first lesson is not going to be a long one.”

Rey straightened her back, not feeling as composed as Luke was holding the position.

“Now, Rey. Tell me what the Force is.”

Rey’s shoulders dropped. “I told you, I don’t know what it _is_. I was hoping you would tell me.”

Rey looked to Luke hoping for clarification. Luke let his eyes slip close, a picture of tranquillity.

“Close your eyes and feel the Force.”

Rey suppressed a sigh and closed her eyes.

“Breathe.”

She reached out with the Force, something that no longer required as much effort as the first time she had done it. There was her, and then there was Luke Skywalker. They were too far from the base for her to sense anyone else.

“Look beyond your search for people. Reach out with your feelings.”

There was no one around, just the wind whistling at their ears and the grass swaying.

“What do you see?”

Little birds were there, in the trees and in the sky, their hearts quick, songs pleasant. Present in the Force. Small woodland creatures, grazing lazily in the forest. Their hearts bigger, stronger than the birds’, full of life.

But amongst all that life, carcasses lay beneath. They provided nourishment, giving a source for more life to feed on.

It wasn’t all. Where there was the warm embrace of the sun on the surface, there was also the assault of the sea ready to drown any with its cold embrace.

Where groupings of animals coexisted in feeding and raising the young, the wild posed a danger that was quick to destroy their harmony.

It was all bound together, interconnected, feeding into one another, over and over. Maintaining a cycle. An invisible energy maintained the order, existing between it all. It was all around them, in the air, the birds, the ground- everywhere.

It was even inside of her.

The Force.

~o~

When Rey emerged from the woods later, the sky had started to darken. BB-8 stood waiting outside, curiously. Seeing Rey, the droid rolled up to cheerfully informed her of its task to take her to Finn and Poe.

Rey was led into what looked like a garage hanger, but had another level beneath. The dark walls of this hidden level underground were illuminated by dim lights from holotables stationed against the walls. Resistance officers at various terminals were tapping away information, studying charts, or engaged in hushed discussions. Finn and Poe were in a corner with two officers Rey did not recognize. They were all listening to Finn speak with great intent, and appeared to be recording what he said, in addition to making notes and pulling up images for references.

No one seemed to be concerned with Rey’s presence there. Poe gestured for her to join, and the officers only spared Rey brief glances before resuming their task. The droid rolled past Finn to get to Poe, nearly running over Finn’s feet in the process.

Finn was giving detailed accounts of the inner workings of the First Order. He had information on the structure of the base, names of officers, the chain of command, and much more. Poe told her they planned to destroy Starkiller base before its powers could be demonstrated. They were in the process of locating it, and already had squads assigned for the mission. Now they needed the accurate scans of its layout to accompany the ones Finn had supplied from memory.

Leaving Finn to his task, Poe took Rey back to the ground level to show her where repairs were done. They had storage for the tools, and shelves upon shelves of parts that had no use to anyone. He showed her around the main workstation, which was not regularly utilized as most of the mechanics were cruiser specific.

“So, how was Jedi training?”

“It started.”

Poe waited a beat. “And?” He prompted for more.

Rey lifted a shoulder half-heartedly. “That’s it, unfortunately.”

Poe gave it some thought. “I heard Jedi training lasts for years.”

“I’m sure we’ll go faster,” Rey said a touch forcefully. She needed it to be true.

Returning for Finn, the three left for the cafeteria. Rose was there. She didn’t refuse when Rey invited her to their table.

“So, Rey offered to help out in repairs,” Poe informed the girl. “She’s fixed ships before.”

Rose nearly inhaled her food. “That’s amazing! I do maintenance for one of our cruisers. Ask me if you need the schematics,” she gushed.

Rey grinned. “You’re a mechanic too?” It came as a welcomed surprise.

Rose explained the current situation. Most of the mechanics spent time doing endless maintenance and repair works in the cruisers and bombers. It left them with little dedicated time to work on other units. They had plenty of pending issues Rey could speed things up with.

As Rose continued listing the problems they had encountered trying to fix a faulty com, Rey was doused in a feeling in the Force she knew all too well. Rey forced her focus to return to Rose. It was an inopportune for the Force to do this now, but it was going to do it, anyway.

Ben Solo solidified right in her line of vision beyond Rose.

In a stark contrast to their previous encounters, Ben Solo did not care for Rey. He looked to the side where he sat, elbows on likely a table in front of him. He did not grace Rey with a single glance even, jaw clenching as his hands turned into fists.

It would seem Rey had appeared to Ben Solo at a moment that could not be worse.

With a stiff expression, Ben Solo ground out, “You should try somewhere else,” to the person holding his attention. Rey felt the warning like ice down her spine.

Finally, he took a look at Rey. Some of his ire receded, as if for the sake of presenting a different front to the new audience he had. He grabbed a glass from in front where he sat and drank some amber liquid from it, more roughly than Rey had imagined him capable of. With his eyes on the glass, he took in a deep breath, letting go of more of his irritation.

He tensed when a hand, dark and pretty with its jewels, touched his thigh. This dainty hand, with its elegant long nails painted black, began to caress.

Rey turned her gaze away. She stabbed her food with a fork.

“Rey?”

Rose. Rose had been speaking to her. Rey had not listened to a word she had said after seeing Ben Solo. She could easily guess what was happening with him.

“Thank you for telling me, Rose,” Rey stammered, looking down at her food. “Can I... can I come talk to you tomorrow too?”

“Of course,” Rose said, and Rey could hear the smile in her words. It caused Rey a pang of guilt. She cast her eyes up to smile back at Rose.

“Not interested,” Ben said tersely, sending a chill her way.

Rose returned to her food. Beyond her, Ben Solo brushed the hand off. With a stormy look, he ignored the woman with him.

The hand returned. It traced patterns on his thigh with a playful finger. It persisted even when he pulled his leg away.

His annoyance stubbornly nudged at Rey.

In a strange turn, one of the jewels transformed. A part of it retracted, replaced by a thin glass spike that extended till it was as long as the finger that wore the jewel.

Ben Solo was oblivious of it. He brooded, not paying mind to his companion, as if it would make her disappear.

After another unwanted stroke to his leg, the finger bent inward. The hand tipped, and the needle with it.

Rey dropped her fork with a clatter.

“There’s something in her hand!”

In the blink of an eye, Ben Solo had a hand in the air above his lap. The woman’s hand had frozen, still as a statue, the needle positioned to plunge in. With a shaky breath, Ben looked away from the hand, to the woman at his side, and then to Rey with wide eyes betraying how close of a call that was.

Their table had gone quiet.

Rey wracked her brain for an excuse. She could not come up with a good one. Her heart thudded wildly.

Poe was the one to ask, “Who has what in their hand?”

Gingerly standing up, Rey searched for a reasonable explanation for her outburst. The best she could come up with was a rushed, “I saw someone holding a strange toolbox, must be a new model. I’ve never seen it before. Why don’t I go ask if it’s from repairs? I’ll be back soon,” and bolted before they could ask more.

~o~

Her hands stayed frozen in place. The spy struggled, unable to move a muscle despite her efforts. She cast her eyes up at Ben with grace, not allowing a hint of her bitterness appear on her face.

When Ben Solo stopped by Maz Kanata’s Castle, he expected some trouble, yes- but none of this variety. He had ordered a drink, taken a table in a corner, and settled to blend in and wait for Maz, when the spy approached.

Girls never tended to approach him so aggressively. The skin girls and prostitutes who tried always left upon realizing he wasn’t the sort of scum their customer base is made of. So when this girl in her black and white skin-tight outfit slipped into the empty spot beside him, introducing herself as ‘Bazine Netal’, he was decidedly bothered by her flirting, and at a loss of how to successfully reject someone so persistent without resorting to walking away in surrender. More alarming was when he caught her train of thoughts, and followed them to her true profession.

And Rey had seen it all.

Ben couldn’t think of a way this could be made worse for him.

“Look,” he started, being as polite as he could with someone who had just tried to poison him, “I’m not interested in your business. But,” Ben tilted his head, and her hand withdrew, the needle now hovering over her thigh, hidden by their table, “I need to know if I should be expecting more trouble.”

Bazine Netal smiled. It was a captivating one, and did not reach her smouldering eyes. “No trouble. Just me,” She purred, bowing forward to invade his space.

Ben lifted a finger to shush her in place. He was not considered a threat to her, he could see that. Even though he clearly had the upper hand, perhaps he would do well to not underestimate a seasoned mercenary. This was not an adversary he was at ease in dealing with. Usually they just yell, aim, and shoot- which was much simpler and decisive.

“Is that _really_ your attempt at intimidation or are you underestimating her- _ow_ -ah kriffing-” Rey stumbled, huffing and puffing as she lumbered through what Ben could only assume was a harsh terrain. Why she did so left him baffled.

“As if she wasn’t trying poison you minutes ago,” she sniped under her breath, meeting eyes with him testily before returning to battling her way, lean arms extending to find support. Where was she going?

With reluctance, he tore his eyes away from Rey to return to the woman on his other side. Rey was right. This was out of his comfort zone, but he had to make do.

“Last chance. Tell me what I need to know. Or I give this back to you.” Ben increased the pressure on Bazine Netal’s hand minutely, letting the needle touch her thigh, her facade breaking for long enough to let slip the association of her present task with the First Order.

The panic in the woman before him grew when Ben pressed till the needle pushed against her. A touch more pressure would break the needle through her skin. He let her read his every intent to leave this woman with a vial full of her own poison in her bloodstream in the lack of hesitation in his eyes.

“For your sake, I should hope this is just a knock-out drug.”

Moments before the needle could breach her skin, her fear left her final thoughts wide open to Ben. He let her lips loosen, and the words accompanying the thoughts tumbled out fast.

“There is a demand for information on the Resistance. You’re the son of their leader, General Organa. This the only one outside Republic territory you are known to make frequent drops.” Ben eased up, the needle tip still touching. Bazine Netal looked ready to kill him slowly and painfully.

“You’re not known to use such powers. Am I that intimidating? I promise I don’t bite,” She added with a sly show of teeth, just waiting for the chance to catch him unawares. Oh, how she hated his show of power. It was not part of the information she had received.

Ben grunted, lifting a hand to snuff out her consciousness.

“I said I wasn’t interested.” Ben left his seat quickly, not turning to see her fall.

He had only taken a few steps, when a barrier rose to meet him.

“Hey, that’s my girlfriend!”

It had come as a threatening roar from the wall of orange blocking his path. Ben looked up. He had to look further- and further- a rarity for someone of his height- to see eye to eye with the grotesque creature that claimed the spy as its girlfriend.

It was the ugliest thing in the tavern by far. How this much ugly managed to land spy lady was bewildering. More maddening was someone so hideous they were more angry orange blobs of mass with horns protruding out of its chin had better game than Ben did.

“Hit him hard and run when he’s distracted!” Rey commanded from the side, tone pitched high in her distress. Ben wished to steal a glance at her face, wondering what it like rooting for him and telling for him to resort to violence from the get go. The girl was wound up and rearing to go on his behalf, he could feel it. If she had been here in the same space as him, she might have shoved him aside and done the deed herself. It was easy to imagine.

But, perhaps he need not act rashly and ruin the relatively peaceful mood in Maz’s tavern. There was no way he was running from this. He could take this creature on, and he could win. It would be easy work for him. Ben could win this without breaking a sweat.

Besides- Rey was watching. What would she think if he ran like a coward?

With that in mind, Ben raised his hands up his shoulders in a mock gesture of surrender, mustered as much indifference as he could, and calmly suggested, “Maybe we can settle this quiet-”

He didn’t get to finish. The behemoth of ugly had lifted him by the collars and thrown him across the bar.

Ben fell on the floor with a grunt, the momentum carrying his body sliding further after landing. Breath knocked out of him by the blow, he laid there for a moment to recover. Chaos erupted around him. A flurry of people rushed to steer away from the trouble.

Rey appeared in his view, her face upside down as she bent over him.

“I _told_ you to hit first!” She snapped, the flecks of gold in her eyes dancing restlessly.

Ben brought two blasters out. “I was going to talk my way out of it,” he defended coolly.

Rey waved a hand at him. “Oh, yes, quite a diplomat you are.”

Ben let out a gust of air, bracing for the next move. Patrons of the bar blocked the ugly bastard’s trajectory towards Ben in their hurry to get out of the way of danger. More men, likely ugly bastard’s goons, ran to assist the ugly hulking thing shoving past other customers. Rey’s lips had parted above him, the downturned shape of her mouth tight at the corners as she straightened above him. Ben focused on readjusting to the familiarity of the Force responding to his will.

Using the Force, Ben sprang upright to his feet, aimed both blasters at ugly bastard’s head and pulled the triggers.

The wall of orange dropped to the floor, bringing his followers to a stop. They reacted late, and Ben tore their blasters out of their hands by will, letting them pile on the floor at his feet. Many ran in fear when he did. The ones who did not charged at him with sharp objects and fists. A few had a second blaster. Ben was absurdly outnumbered. That wasn’t alarming at all, since it was not a first for him.

The Force was quick to come to his aid. Conscious of a tense Rey right behind him, Ben remained in his spot, effectively covering her instead of ducking behind the counter to his right. Any hits aimed at him would likely not reach her, but he didn’t feel like taking the chance.

_‘Remember son, people in places like these won’t hesitate to blast you a new one. Always blast ‘em first. Ain’t that right, Chewie?’_

Shots were fired their way. Letting go of his blasters, Ben called the Force to deflect the bolts away. Two-three- more men fell to the deflected bolts. Several were skilled at dodging, and too fast. They were lifted and thrown hard against the wall, snapping of bones and screams loud in their pain. Grabbing the blasters from where he’d left them hovering, Ben fired at the rest of his attackers, taking them out quickly. He shot a man that got too close with a knife. Another received a swift kick to the gut for a missed punch, and a bolt to the chest.

The last man fell with a strike from the butt of his blaster. No more were visible. Casting out a reach for more men in hiding, Ben found none in their immediate vicinity. Blood thumped loudly at his ears.

Ben spun to face Rey. She was on her tip toes, trying to crane her neck and see over his shoulders rather fruitlessly. She fell back on her feet hastily when Ben saw, mournful at having been caught by a smirking Ben. If only she were really here.

“All good.”

Rey gawked as if he had said something absurd. “‘All _good_ ’- The man was clearly bigger than you! You don’t just take your chances with someone that big!”

At first, Ben thought little of her outraged words. As he looked down at the girl, towering over her slighter form substantially, it hit him hard like a punch to the gut.

Her surety came from her experience. He could only imagine, and the thought was nauseating.

It was worse when his mind replaced the Rey before him with the tiny one from his one of his visions.

“You’re right. That was dangerous.”

It took her a while to hide her surprise at his surrender. Rey closed her mouth, long lashes fluttering as she looked up through them with her teeth clenched. “Do you always get into trouble like that?”

“Not always. I don’t frequent such places.”

A man approached from behind Rey, hidden by the walls extended around the open doorway to the kitchens. More men gathered, waiting to ambush him. Ben raised his blasters over Rey’s shoulders. She looked where he targeted, caged by his extended arms, the dewy scent of her hair tickling his nose. Ben shot them down when they ducked out to take aim at him.

Rey rounded up on him again once the shooting stopped. “How many more are there? Are you trapped?”

Ben shrugged a shoulder. He aimed over his shoulder to shoot at someone approaching from behind with hostile intentions. They yelped and ran away.

“At least _look_ where you’re shooting,” Rey fumed.

“I know I’m hitting the target. They usually scream when I do.”

“You’ll be caught off guard again. Like with your _date_.”

Ben threw his hands up. “She wasn’t my _date_. She was a spy making unwanted advances.”

Rey pressed, “With a needle full of poison. What if I hadn’t warned you?”

“Thank you for that.” Ben conceded graciously. And then he watched her get riled up again when he added, “I would have caught on if your presence hadn’t distracted me.”

He only meant it in defence of his competence. Not at all like how it sounded, as if he laid the blame on Rey.

“ _I_ was distracting you? I was with people when I warned you! Do you have any idea how strange I looked talking to someone they couldn’t see?! I left them with,” she grew agitated, “the silliest excuse in existence! Then I had to run into the _woods_ for a chance to be alone with you!”

A wide grin erupted on Ben’s face. All that trouble, on account of him.

“I’m sorry for distracting you. I hope you get out of the woods safely,” Ben professed sincerely to her, his spirits soaring. She stared a moment gaping at the face of his smile, clearly wanting to say something.

Eventually, she settled on asking, “Aren’t you going to get out of there?” more quietly than he had ever heard her speak before.

With a jerk of his head, Ben returned a blaster to its holster. His kept the other with a finger at the trigger, and fell in step beside Rey. “I’m going back to base,” she told him, eyes trained on where she stepped. Her lips would part the slightest when she focused.

Ben was slowed considerably in trying to maintain her pace. One long step from him covered more than two of her tentative ones. “I can’t leave yet. I need to have a word with the owner.”

Rey snorted. “Owner of the place you just wrecked? That’ll go over well.”

“She’ll understand,” Ben piped up optimistically. Maz Kanata was making her way towards Ben, her cleaning staff trailing behind fearfully.

“Maz! I found a First Order spy for you, look-” Ben paused when he did not spot Bazine Netal at the table where he had left her. He lowered his line of vision and pointed upon finding her. “There, unconscious on the floor.”

Maz squinted at Ben, adjusting her specs. “You Solos. Always causing trouble wherever you go!”

Ben grimaced, already feeling his neck hurt from having to look so far down. The little lady snapped her fingers, ordering her guards to collect Bazine Netal.

“I’ll make it up to you. Any drops you need to make?”

Maz made a show of giving it some thought, before a smile full of mischief broke across her face.

“I have a better idea. Tell me who this ‘Rey’ is.”

Rey was paying half a mind to the words Ben spoke. He knew that. The girl was taking measured steps, right there next to him.

“We met recently.”

Maz smiled wider.

“Is she pretty?”

Ben cleared his throat, vehemently avoiding looking at both Maz and Rey.

“V _ery_ pretty, then,” Maz concluded, displaying a sudden burst of energy in her excitement. “Don’t worry. Your package will reach her safely. I won’t tell who it’s from, as you requested.”

“Thank you, Maz.”

Maz hummed. “Flowers,” she declared.

“What?”

“Girls like flowers.”

“Oh!” Rey whipped her head up. “Ben,” was all she said before the Force disconnected them. Ben worked his mouth, regretful for not having been able to say anything back.

“She might not,” he speculated, thinking back to the glimpses he had gotten into a life rooted in surviving, barely scraping by, and the fragile desert flower back in his ship.

Maz patted him sympathetically. “Don’t give up so easily. Try the flowers.”

Ben shook his head, finding the conversation an absurd one.

Maz poked him hard on the leg. “Special flowers, if she’s so special then!”

~o~


End file.
